University  of  California, 


OIF^T  OK 


Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH 

Received  October,  18^4. 
Accessions  No.  Sip  ^^S^.      Class  No. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

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DISCOURSES 


ON 


COMMON  TOPICS   OF  CHRISTIAN   FAITH 
AND  PRACTICE. 


/ 

BT 

JAMES  W.  ALEXANDER,  D.D. 

[■aFlVBRSITT] 

NEW  YOEK: 

CHARLES    SCRIBNEE,   124  GRAND   STREET. 

1858. 


Hfi-c^ 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  In  the  year  185S,  by 

CHAELES  SCKIBNEE, 

In  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern  District  of 
New  York. 


JoHM  F.  Trow, 
Printer,  Stereotyper,  and  Electrotyper 
371  &  319  Broadway, 
Cor.  White  Street,  New  York. 


nHIVBRSITTl 


PREFACE 


The  appearance  of  these  Discourses  is  due  to  the  kind 
importunity  of  the  Publisher,  once  my  pupil  and  since 
my  esteemed  friend,  who  has  for  several  years  asked  this 
contribution.  Diligent  inquiry  of  the  Trade  has  informed 
me,  that  while  the  recent  depression  of  business  has 
lessened  literary  demand  in  general,  the  proportion  of 
religious  books  sold  has  strikingly  increased. 

There  are,  as  every  one  knows,  several  clever  sayings, 
which  set  aside  the  Sermon  as  a  species  characteristically 
dull  and  unreadable  ;  and  this  has  tempted  not  a  few,  in 
giving  the  matter  of  their  preaching  to  the  world,  to  use 
some  disguise  as  to  the  original  form.  Yet  the  testimony 
of  booksellers  is,  that  some  of  the  most  widely  spread 
publications  of  the  day  are  collections  of  Sermons. 


4  PREFACE. 

Printing  is  only  preacHng  in  another  shape.  Pro- 
vided, then,  that  people  will  read,  a  minister  of  Christ 
needs  no  more  apology  for  putting  his  instructions  into 
type,  than  for  going  into  the  pulpit.  If  he  is  sincere  and 
zealous,  his  intention  will  be  the  same  in  both.  He  is 
only  giving  vast  increase  to  the  circle  of  his  influence, 
for  good  or  evil. 

The  affectionate  and  often  fondly  partial  hearers  of 
any  preacher,  are  apt  to  desire  the  publication  of  what 
has  been  blessed  to  their  spiritual  strength  and  comfort ; 
and  such  derive  a  profit  from  the  printed  book  which 
cannot  be  measured  by  its  intrinsic  quality.  It  is  with 
this  view  that  these  pages  are  more  particularly  dedi- 
cated to  the  beloved  people  of  my  charge. 

After  all,  the  controlling  reason  for  publishing  as  well 
as  preaching,  should  be  a  desire  to  glorify  God  in  the 
salvation  of  men,  by  communicating  as  widely  as  possible 
the  truth  of  the  Gospel.  When  we  have  done  all,  we 
leave  millions  unreached  by  our  endeavours ;  and  if  by 
any  means  we  can  add  even  one  to  the  number  of  learn- 
ers, it  is  worth  the  labour.  Each  messenger  has  some 
peculiarity  in  his  way  of  influence.  Every  man  who 
thinks  long  and  deeply  upon  the  plan  of  grace  has  cer- 
tain favourite  views,  which  have  cost  him  something, 
which  he  cherishes  with  delight,  and  in  which  he  strongly 
desires  that  others  may  participate.  Even  truths  as  old  as 
Christianity  itself  strike  him  in  such  a  way  that  he  flatters 


PREFACE.  9^  5 

himself  lie  can  bring  them  home  with  a  kindred  freshness 
to  his  neighbours  and  brethren.  Let  me  avow  that  there 
are  doctrinal  statements  in  the  following  pages,  which, 
though  in  no  sense  novel,  are  such  as  conduce  to  the  very 
life  of  my  soul,  and  such  therefore  as  I  am  exceedingly 
desirous,  in  my  humble  measure,  to  rescue  from  misap- 
prehension and  inculcate  on  my  children  and  friends. 
E'o  speaker  or  writer  is  likely  to  leave  a  deep  mark  upon 
other  minds,  or  in  any  degree  to  mould  the  thinking  of 
his  contemporaries,  except  by  the  utterance  of  principles, 
which  not  only  are  held  by  him  in  sincerity  of  belief,  but 
are  dear  to  his  heart  and  operative  on  his  character,  as 
being  inseparable  from  the  current  of  his  daily  and 
nightly  thinking.  They  may  be  true,  or  they  may  be 
false  ;  but  of  him  who  holds  them  they  are  the  weapons 
of  warfare.  Hence  we  are  sometimes  fain  to  do  homage 
to  the  earnestness  of  a  man,  whose  reasonings  do  not 
bring  us  over.  For  the  doctrines  here  set  forth,  I  claim 
only  this :  whether  with  or  without  reason,  they  are  my 
belief.  Years  fly  apace,  natural  vigour  wanes,  and  op- 
portunities of  personal  influence  become  fewer ;  but  my 
profound  conviction  of  the  verities  here  proposed  waxes 
stronger  and  stronger,  with  a  corresponding  earnestness 
to  diffuse  and  impress  them.  !N'o  concealment  or  com- 
promise has  been  attempted  as  to  the  tenets ;  which  be- 
long to  a  scheme  of  belief,  ancient,  intelligibly  distinct, 
even  singular,  long  contested,  read  and  known  of  all  men. 


6 


PREFACE. 


Yet  if  there  is  aught  here  which  shall  disturb  any  evan- 
gelical mind,  it  has  crept  in  without  a  polemical  purpose. 
The  field  is  immeasurably  large,  in  which  we  may  ex- 
patiate, without  setting  foot  upon  the  minor  controver- 
sies of  the  schools;  and  some  who  are  immovably  at- 
tached to  certain  theological  distinctions,  would  be  the 
last  to  lay  them  among  the  foundations,  or  erect  them 
into  terms  of  communion,  or  set  them  forth  as  tests  of 
grace.  It  is  hoped,  meanwhile,  that  humble  experienced 
believers  will  find  here  in  due  prominence  those  central 
truths  concerning  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified,  by 
which  all  theology  and  all  sermons  must  stand  or  fall. 

None  of  the  articles  which  make  up  this  book  belong 
to  the  class  of  Occasional  Discourses ;  one  only,  intended 
for  the  young,  was  delivered  by  request ;  all  are  such  as 
came  up  in  the  routine  of  a  common  ministry.  They  are 
intentionally  miscellaneous,  and  several  of  the  number 
are  recent,  as  having  been  preached  during  the  late 
blessed  awakening. 

It  is  my  humble  and  hearty  prayer,  that  God  would 
vouchsafe,  by  his  Holy  Spirit,  to  make  them  useful. 

New  York,  Novemher,  1858. 


CONTENTS 


PAQB 

PREFACE 3 

I. 
OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF 11 

IL 

THE  DIVINE  PERFECTION^  IN  HARMONY  .  .  49 

IIL 
THE  PROVIDENCE  OP  GOD  IN  PARTICULARS  .  .      73 

IV. 
THE  INCARNATION  93 

V 

THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE  WORLDLING  ,  .  .    125 

VL 
THE  SCORNER 149 


8  CONTENTS. 

VII.  PAGE 

SALVATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  FATHER     .  .  .169 

VIIL 
DYING  FOR  FRIENDS 187 

IX. 

THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING 207 

X. 

THE  THIRSTY  INVITED  .....  225 

XL 
THE  INWARDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION  .  .  .245 

XII. 
NEW  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED  .  .  .  268 

XIII. 
LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR 283 

XIV. 
THE  YOUNG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN  ...  821 

XV. 
DAILY  SERVICE  OF  CHRIST  .  .  .  .  .841 

XVL 
MIRTH         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .861" 

XVIL 
BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES 879 


CONTENTS.  ^                 9 

XVIII.  PAGB 

THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE           .            .  .           .            .          399 

XIX. 
STRENGTH  IN  CHRIST 423 

XX 

YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE         .            .  ,            .                      443 


1. 


OUR    MODERN    UNBELIEF 


xjsivbesity; 


OUR  MODERN   UNBELIEF  * 


2  CoE.  ii.  11. 
"  For  we  are  not  ignorant  of  his  devices." 

I.  If  Satan  has  the  guile,  the  experience  and  the 
enmity  which  we  commonly  ascribe  to  him,  he  may  be 
expected  not  to  confine  himself  to  one  mode  of  attack 
on  Christianity,  but  to  bring  up  new  forces  and  lay  siege 
to  new  points  in  each  successive  age.  And  if  the  de- 
fenders of  Truth  have  been  as  successful  as  we  allege, 
they  must  make  up  their  minds  to  see  fresh  reserves  of 
argumentation,  satire  and  obloquy  taking  the  places  of 
those  which  have  been  resisted  and  overcome.  These 
antecedent  probabilities  are  exactly  realized  in  the  ac- 
tual strategy  of  our  powerful  antagonist.  Christianity 
has  been  assaulted  in  every  age  since  the  beginning,  but 
with  a  continual  change  in  the  object  of  the  onset  and 
the  weapons  and  manoeuvres  of  the  foe.     The  objec- 

*  New  York,  February  8, 1852. 


14  '      OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 

tions  of  Porphyry  and  Celsus  seemed  formidable  in  their 
day,  and  called  out  early  waiters  in  those  Apologies,  as 
they  are  named,  which  still  exist  in  the  Hbraries  of  the 
learned ;  but  their  objections  would  scarcely  disturb  the 
faith  of  a  Christian  child  in  our  times ;  and  they  have 
long  been  laid  asleep.  A  tremendous  force  was  brought 
to  bear  against  the  Church  by  the  English  deists,  and 
their  successors,  the  philosophers  of  France.  Prom  the 
literature,  the  elegance,  the  occasional  wit,  the  numbers 
and  the  skill  of  these  opponents,  an  undeniable  shock 
was  given  to  the  behef  of  thousands,  as  we  may  see  in 
the  period  anterior  to  the  Prench  Revolution.  There 
were  not  wanting  men  to  predict  that  Christianity  would 
speedily  yield  before  such  talent  and  daring  as  those  of 
Voltaire,  Rousseau,  Hume,  Gibbon,  Diderot,  and  D'Hol- 
bach.  The  work  wrought  by  these  fascinating  scholars, 
in  academies,  courts  and  drawing-rooms,  was  carried  on 
lower  down  in  society  by  such  men  as  Paine,  in  clubs 
and  pothouses.  All  these  attacks  of  the  eighteenth 
century  had  a  common  character.  Whether  sceptical, 
deistical,  or  atheistical,  they  all  belonged  to  what  has 
since  been  known  as  RationaHsm.  All  denied  the 
Bible,  and  many  of  them  treated  it  with  scorn,  sarcasm, 
and  blasphemy  ;  all  set  up  human  Reason  as  the  sole 
origin  of  Truth  on  the  points  in  question.  Materiahsts 
and  immateriahsts,  sober  theists  and  blank  atheists, 
they  agreed  in  this  family  Hkeness.  There  was  no 
elevation,  or  enthusiasm,  or  mysticism.  Every  thing 
in  rehgion  was  brought  to  the  test  of  cold  calculation. 


.  OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF.  $  ]^5 

The  pretence  of  close  logic  was  never  more  vauntingly 
put  forth.  It  was  by  critical  dissection  and  links  of 
reasoning  almost  mathematical,  that  all  these  unbelievers 
undertook  to  demonstrate  the  falsity  of  our  alleged 
revelation.  This  was  the  form  of  infidehty  which  pre- 
vailed in  [France,  Prussia,  Scotland,  and  in  certain  circles 
in  Amorica,  during  the  youth  of  our  fathers.  It  may 
be  seen  in  its  best  colours  in  Volney  and  in  the  letters 
of  Jefferson.  What  a  sweep  it  made  in  France,  even  of 
the  Romish  clergy,  is  known  to  all  who  have  ever  con- 
templated the  career  of  a  Talleyrand,  a  Sieyes,  or  a 
Fouche.  Some  of  the  worst  of  the  bloody  actors  were 
unfrocked  priests.  It  was  against  this  form  of  oppo- 
sition that  Divine  Providence  called  forth  such  writers 
as  Watson,  Beattie,  Campbell,  and  Robert  Hall.*  Some 
of  our  most  valuable  treatises  on  the  Evidences  of  Chris- 
tianity are  the  fruits  of  this  warfare.  Voltaire  predicted 
that  in  twenty  years  Christianity  would  be  extinct,  and 
Mr.  Jefferson  seemed  to  smile  in  anticipation  of  an  age 
in  which  superstition  should  be  no  more.  Once  in  a 
while,  and  generally  among  the  least  educated,  especially 
artisans  and  operatives  who  come  to  us  from  Great 
Britain,  we  find  a  knot  of  antiquated  scoffers,  who  pore 
over  these  exploded  books  and  shed  Hbations  upon  the 
carcass  of  Paine.  That  grand  army  is  as  thoroughly 
disbanded  as  was  Napoleon's  at  Waterloo ;  but  CMs- 
tianity  still  survives,  and  some  of  its  greatest  triumphs 

*  See  Hall's  celebrated  Sermon  on  Modern  Infidelity. 


IQ  OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 

have  been  made  since  this  very  epoch.  We  have  beheld, 
not  the  enthroning  of  the  goddess  of  Reason,  but  the  era 
of  the  Bible  Society,  of  Missions,  of  mighty  Revivals, 
and  of"  increased  Protestant  union.  If  the  citadel  of 
Christianity  is  to  fall,  it  must  be  by  other  weapons  than 
those  which  He  black  and  rusty  around  the  fortification, 
like  the  spiked  cannon  and  stray  balls  which  mark  the 
spot  of  former  engagements.  That  campaign  of  the 
antichristian  war  has  reached  its  close;  and  he  who 
would  bring  forth  against  us  the  armament  of  an  age 
utterly  left  behind,  only  betrays  the  simplicity  of  igno- 
rance. But  are  we,  therefore,  to  conclude  that  Satan 
has  desisted  from  his  attempts  ?  By  no  means.  He 
has  only  availed  himself  of  the  pause,  to  levy  forces  for 
a  new  campaign,  and  assault  positions  heretofore  unat- 
tempted.  And  it  is  a  most  interesting  and  needful 
inquiry,  in  what  shape  the  infidel  incm^sion  of  our  own 
day  is  to  be  expected ;  for  the  whole  fine  of  our  defences 
must  be  conformable  to  the  dispositions  of  the  enemy. 
It  is  my  desire,  therefore,  to  ask  your  attention  to  some 
characteristics  of  the  infidehty  which  we  have  most  to 
fear  for  ourselves  and  our  children.  And  here  there  is 
danger  lest  we  make  the  field  of  observation  too  wide, 
and  thus  content  ourselves  with  a  superficial  view.  We 
ought  therefore  to  exclude,  however  important  in  their 
place,  all  those  forms  of  error  which  claim  for  themselves 
a  part  in  the  church  foundation,  and  which  name  them- 
selves Christian.  It  is  not  heresy,  however  noxious, 
which  we  would  now  examine,  but  infidelity.     Nor 


OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF.  •'  J/jr 

must  we  err  so  grossly  as  to  assert  that  all  infidels  be- 
long to  a  single  class.  Their  name  is  legion.  It  has 
been  admitted  that  here  and  there  a  specimen  may  be 
found  of  the  old-fashioned  calculating  unbeliever  of  the 
French  or  Jacobin,  that  is,  the  rationalistic  school. 
Among  the  remainder  there  are  also  various  degrees. 
No  one  is  ruined  all  at  once.  In  the  awful  descent 
each  apostate  finds  "  beneath  the  lowest  deep  a  lower 
deep ;  "  and  the  precise  shade  of  blackness  and  darkness 
which  we  meet  in  him  must  depend  on  the  stage  of  this 
downward  progress  at  which  we  make  our  observation. 
Yet  the  infidelity  of  the  nineteenth  century  has  charac- 
teristics as  discernible  as  that  of  the  eighteenth ;  and  if 
these  are  occasionally  less  distinct,  it  is  because  the  un- 
belief of  our  day  is  forming,  but  not  formed ;  the  pro- 
cess is  incomplete ;  the  development  is  still  going  on. 
We  have  to  examine  tendencies  rather  than  results ;  yet 
as  naturalists  can  detect  the  poison  fruit  even  in  its 
blossom,  and  the  viper  in  its  egg ;  and  as  the  premo- 
nitions of  the  earthquake  or  volcano  give  inarticulate 
warnings  before  the  earth  is  cleft  and  the  lava  boiling 
over,  so  we  have  a  right  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the  falsi- 
ties beginning  to  prevail,  even  though  we  know  but  in 
part  whereunto  they  shall  grow. 

1.  The  beginnings  of  this  contemporaneous  infidehty 
were  with  a  show  of  great  learning  and  science.  As- 
sumptions of  this  sort  were  indeed  made  by  the  Ency- 
clopedists and  French  atheists  ;  but  their  attainments 
were  limited  and  often  superficial.  Several  great  sciences, 
2 


28  OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 

in  their  new  forms,  have  been  bom  since  their  day. 
We  have  only  to  read  the  "  Jew's  Letters  "  to  learn  the 
ignorance  of  Voltaire  as  to  some  of  the  most  ordinary 
matters  of  Biblical  science ;  and  the  veriest  schoolboy 
would  scout  the  claim  of  probability  for  Volney.  In 
our  times,  if  one  country  more  than  another  has  the 
boast  of  leamiQg,  it  is  Germany ;  and  there,  if  any- 
where, Infidehty  has  made  its  wildest  ravages.  It  was 
Lessing  who  led  the  way  in  violent  warfare  against 
Christ ;  Lessing,  the  poet,  the  man  of  taste,  the  almost 
universal  genius.  Goethe  and  Schiller  are  claimed  by 
the  infidels  ;  yet  the  last  age  has  produced  no  greater 
masters  of  the  human  heart.  The  philosophy  which 
takes  its  name  from  Germany,  and  which  has  penetrated 
France,  and  entered  largely  into  the  pubhc  institutions 
of  America,  was  born  and  nurtured  and  matured  in 
the  bosom  of  noble  universities,  founded  for  the  up- 
holding of  Protestant  rehgion.  The  new  sciences  have 
been  invoked  to  prove  the  Bible  false.  Astronomy  has 
been  placed  on  the  rack,  to  testify  that  Creation  at  the 
scriptural  date  is  absurd.  Geologists,  scarcely  at  the 
threshold  of  their  discoveries,  unsettled  in  their  very 
nomenclature,  and  unwiOing  to  wait  tiU  they  can  agree 
among  themselves,  have  so  read  the  strata  of  the  earth 
as  to  give  the  he  to  the  books  of  Moses.  Ethnography 
and  Ethnology,  puffed  up  in  new-born  strength,  have  ut- 
tered oracles  showing  that  the  negro  and  the  white  man 
cannot  have  had  common  progenitors.  All  have  boasted 
superior  letters  and  philosophy.     But  above  all,  the 


OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 


19 


metaphysical  reasoners,  one  after  another,  have,  spider- 
Hke,  spun  a  thread  out  of  their  bowels,  wherewith  to 
entangle  and  crush  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel.  With 
a  show  of  erudition  and  acumen  never  surpassed,  one  of 
the  most  prominent  infidel  theologians  of  Germany  ut- 
tered a  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  undertaking  to  show  that,  all 
the  miraculous  histories  and  most  of  the  ordinary  narra- 
tives in  our  four  Gospels  are  poetic  figments,  mythic 
fables,  innocent  or  heated  inventions,  like  the  story  of 
the  labours  of  Hercules,  or  the  nursery  legend  of  Jack 
Frost ;  pleasant  personifications  and  instructive  apo- 
logues, with  scarce  a  line  of  real  fact  at  the  bottom. 
Whole  libraries  have  been  ransacked  to  give  basis  to 
this  absurd  structure,  the  mere  statement  of  which  ought 
to  be  its  confutation.  Let  it  be  my  apology  for  alluding 
to  this  poisonous  book  of  Dr.  Strauss,  to  say  that  it  is 
circulated  in  English  in  many  editions,  and  that  it  has, 
to  my  knowledge,  entered  the  house  of  one  of  our  own 
persuasion,  and  perverted  the  soul  of  one  trained  under 
the  truth.  Our  popular  literary  men  have  in  some 
cases  drunk  this  poison.  Certain  portions  of  the  Uni- 
tarian body,  unable  to  keep  foothold  on  the  narrow 
edge  between  their  attenuated  Christianity  and  Deism, 
have  cast  themselves  into  the  gulf  of  Germanism.  If 
you  would  know  what  I  mean,  consider  the  teachings 
of  Theodore  Parker,  Emerson,  and  their  confederates. 
This  is,  as  you  perceive,  no  longer  the  vulgar  infidehty 
of  the  last  age ;  but  it  is  not  less  destructive. 

2.  The  Infidelity  of  our  age  affects  to  be  rehgious. 


20  OFR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 

This  could  hardly  be  said  of  that  which  prevailed  before. 
The  attempt  was,  in  most,  to  scout  every  thing  like  de- 
votion, enthusiasm,  or  inward  affection,  as  superstitious. 
It  was  found  that  this  was  first  impolitic,  and  then  im-. 
possible.  It  was  found  that  man  as  a  religious  being 
must  have  some  outlet  for  the  spiritual  sentiments,  and 
would  make  religions  for  himself,  such  as  the  French 
Theophilanthropism,  or  betake  himself  to  the  beautiful 
idolatries  of  Greece,  as  both  Gibbon  and  SchiUer  seemed 
half  disposed  to  do.  It  was  found  that  man,  despoiled 
of  all  the  religious  emotions,  became  a  Marat  or  a  Paine, 
a  tiger  or  a  swine.  It  was  necessary  therefore  for  the 
arch-enemy  to  remodel  his  devices,  and  bring  in  a  reli- 
gion which  was  better  than  that  of  the  Bible.  This,  my 
brethren,  this  above  all  things  else,  is  the  grand  charac- 
teristic of  infidelity,  in  its  present  most  dangerous  form. 
Your  sons  and  your  daughters  may  be  breathing  the 
fatal  chloroform  of  German  transcendentalism,  when 
they  seem  to  themselves  surrounded  by  the  familiar  air  of 
Christianity.  They  may  hear  much  from  popular  lectur- 
ers of  the  ideal,  the  spiritual,  the  divine,  even  of  God  in- 
carnate in  humanity,  of  resurrection,  of  faith,  of  Christ 
himself,  when  the  subtle  deceiver,  annexing  to  these 
terms  his  own  antichristian  meanings,  is  slowly  and  de- 
liciously,  but  surely  and  fatally  charming  from  them  aU 
that  can  renew  and  save  the  soul.  Most  of  all  danger- 
ous is  our  spiritual  enemy  when  he  thus  transforms 
himself  into  an  angel  of  light. 

You  have  need  to  be  warned  against  this  new  form 


OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 


21 


of  error,  because  it  employs  almost  every  term  of  theolo- 
gy and  experience  in  a  false  and  deceptive  sense,  often 
applying  the  most  sacred  words  of  gracious  truth  to 
matters  of  literature,  scenery,  the  fine  arts,  love,  and  alas, 
even  to  sinful  indulgence.  Some  of  the  foremost  poets 
of  our  day  are  chargeable  with  these  insidious  tactics ; 
so  that  a  father  has  need  to  look  well  to  the  books 
which  lie  upon  his  daughter's  table,  as  splendid  presen- 
tation copies.  I  do  not  mean  merely  the  avowed 
Atheist  and  convicted  blasphemer,  Shelley,  who  ma- 
ligned Jesus  and  argued  against  marriage ;  but  many 
seemingly  pure  and  undoubtedly  gifted  authors,  who 
sing  beautifully  of  Nature  and  of  God.  And  here  we 
must  remark,  that  while  under  the  former  phase  of  Infi- 
delity, much  was  said  of  Nature,  under  its  present  phase 
as  much  is  said  of  God.  Yet  be  not  deceived,  my 
brethren.  If  frequent  repetition  of  the  Sacred  Name 
could  sanctify  a  cause,  theirs  would  be  hallowed  indeed. 
But  their  God  is  not  our  God ;  not  the  God  and  Father 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  not  the  God  of  the  Saints ; 
not  even  a  personal  God.  "With  many  varieties  of  ex- 
pression, and  many  modes  of  veiling  their  horrid  pur- 
pose, their  inward  thought  is  to  remove  ah  that  we  mean 
by  God.  The  more  they  talk  of  God,  the  less  they  be- 
lieve in  him.  In  their  disguised  atheism  the  term  im- 
plies the  sum  of  aU  things,  or  the  everlastingly  unfold- 
ing process  of  causes,  or  the  universal  Reason,  as  exist- 
ing in  all  minds.  Sometimes,  in  their  glorification  of 
humanity,  they  utter  the  scriptural  phrase,  God  is  man ; 


22  OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 

but  their  inward  meaning  is  that  man  is  God.  Man  is 
the  object -of  their  adoration.  The  highest  manifestation 
of  God,  say  they,  is  in  the  human  mind.  This  they 
dishonestly  name,  at  times,  the  Incarnation.  Indeed, 
there  is  scarcely  a  precious  term  in  the  vocabulary  of 
grace,  which  they  have  not  stolen  and  defiled  by  their 
abominable  prostitution.  This  is  the  form  of  atheism 
which  now  threatens  the  world,  and  which  has  been 
called  Pantheism.  Pew  have  gone  the  length  of  hold- 
ing the  system  in  all  its  parts ;  many  differ  as  to  minute 
tenets  and  explanations ;  but  towards  this  vortex  all  the 
popular  and  poetical  unbeliefs  of  the  age  are  rolling 
themselves.  This  maelstrom  has  abeady  sucked  in  and 
engulfed  several  sickly  and  half-living  heresies,  among 
the  rest  a  goodly  portion  of  the  Socinians.  The  bloodless 
humanitarianism  of  Priestley  and  Belsham  was  too  cold, 
too  reasoning,  too  deathlike ;  their  churches  were  too 
sombre  and  empty ;  their  very  ministers  could  not  be  kept 
from  becoming  authors,  statesmen,  or  diplomatic  agents ; 
their  creed  was  too  near  Deism.  This  was  discovered 
by  many  of  the  shrewder  sort.  Hence  the  new  method  of 
reconciling  opposites  which  had  been  discovered  in  Ger- 
many was  seized  with  avidity ;  and  from  this  arises  the 
modern  philosophical,  poetical,  pantheistical  Christian. 
For  a  reason  above  given,  such  a  one  may,  by  dexterous 
use  of  scriptural  terms,  give  his  discourses  a  sound 
which  is  all  but  orthodox.  But  the  more  sober  and 
rational  Unitarian  abhors  these  extravagances  scarcely 
less  than  we.     Never  before  has  the  world  seen  so  large 


OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 


23 


a  body  of  infidels,  really  denying  every  tMng  like  a 
proper  revelation,  yet  full  of  great  swelling  words  about 
the  Spirit,  the  God  of  History,  the  union  of  Virtue  and 
Beauty,  and  the  excellence  of  Rehgion. 

3.  The  Infidelity  of  our  age  connects  itself  with 
freedom  and  social  progress.  So  far  as  the  infidehty  of 
France  was  a  reaction  against  hierarchy  and  the  pope, 
it  had  the  same  colours.  Hence  the  very  men  who 
murdered  the  priesthood  in  the  September  massacres, 
were  loud  in  cries  of  hberty,  equahty,  and  fraternity. 
But  this  poHcy  of  modem  imbehef  is  much  more  boldly 
marked.  Hence  the  cry,  on  every  side,  that  Chris- 
tianity is  a  failure ;  that  the  Church  has  not  made  men 
happy ;  that  whatever  good  the  Bible  has  accomplished, 
its  work  is  done,  and  we  must  have  something  better. 
It  is  a  part  of  this  scheme  to  glory  in  humanity  as  such; 
to  assert  the  independence  and  self-sufficiency  of  man ; 
to  deify  the  creature,  and  pushing  the  rights  of  man  to 
a  Jacobinical  and  impracticable  extreme,  to  instal  lawless 
Freedom  in  the  pulpit.  There  is  something  so  attach- 
ing and  gracious  in  the  first  aspect  of  a  levelling  system, 
that  any  scheme  of  this  kind  gains  multitudes  of  con- 
verts among  the  oppressed,  the  suffering,  the  discon- 
tented, the  aspiring,  and  the  greedy.  Even  in  our  own 
free  commonwealth,  where  every  man  who  deserves  to 
rise  may  succeed  in  it,  so  far  as  outward  restrictions 
are  concerned,  there  begins  to  be  more  and  more  every 
year,  a  half-suppressed  hum  and  murmur  among  certain 
large  classes ;  as  if  all  ranks  must  be  brought  to  a  com- 


24  OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 

mon  level ;  as  if  the  capitalist  and  the  transient  worker 
must  share  alike ;  as  if  the  accumulations  of  industry 
must  become  a  spoil  for  the  idlest ;  as  if  labour  with 
the  hands  were  the  only  title  to  enjoyment.  This  being 
openly  and  diametrically  opposed  to  the  letter  of  Scrip- 
ture, these  teachers,  however  they  may  begin,  are  pretty 
sure  to  end  in  discovering  that  the  Bible  is  false.  Thus, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  philanthropy,  unsanctified,  may 
lead  unsound  minds  to  unbelief;  and  there  are  no  more 
reckless  and  bitter  opponents  of  Christianity  than  a 
number  of  writers,  lecturers,  and  editors,  whom  we 
once  knew  or  heard  of  a^  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ. 
The  truth,  however,  must  be  told  :  just  as  with  Euro- 
pean grain  we  have  brought  into  our  fields  the  weeds 
of  agriculture,  so  with  the  unheard-of  emigration  from 
foreign  countries,  we  have  imported  infidel  socialism 
and  communism.  It  is  no  longer  the  books  and  argu- 
ments of  false  teachers,  only,  we  have  the  men  them- 
selves, the  ready-made  disciples,  clamouring  in  our 
public  assemblies,  and  inflaming  a  peaceful  population 
from  the  press.  I  leave,  as  not  pertaining  to  the  pul- 
pit, the  question  how  far  this  influx  from  corrupt 
sources  may  be  expected  to  modify  our  pohtical  institu- 
tions. 

The  device  of  Satan  is  most  apparent  in  all  this. 
The  excesses  towards  which  infidelity  drives,  are  coun- 
terfeits and  caricatures  of  the  very  blessings  which  we 
owe  to  true  religion.  Tor,  is  not  Christianity  the  reli- 
gion of  the  poor  and  the  oppressed?     Is  it  not  the 


OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 


25 


religion  of  philanthropy  ?  Does  it  not  teach  the  com- 
mon origin  and  spiritual  equality  of  aU  men,  in  the  sight 
of  God  ?  Does  it  not  seek,  and  at  the  safest  moment 
procure,  human  freedom  and  social  rights  ?  Must  it 
not  be  named  pre-eminently  the  system  of  true  progress  ? 
Yea,  yea,  in  despite  of  Garrison  and  Proudhon,  forever 
yea.  But  when  God  has  launched  his  vessel,  infidelity 
would  board  and  master  it,  and,  tearing  its  noble  tim- 
bers apart,  would  frame  a  thousand  fantastic  and 
perishable  rafts  out  of  the  dismembered  hulk.  Nay, 
circhng  around  the  ancient  ship,  she  would  claim  for 
her  crazy  floats,  of  stolen  material,  all  the  safety  and  all 
the  glory  of  the  original  structure.  The  press  of  the 
day,  deeply  surrendered  to  the  half-religions  and  mock- 
religions  of  the  time,  is  ever  and  anon  jeering  at  the 
Church  and  at  Christianity,  as  not  doing  so  much  for 
mankind  as  these  reformers  would  do,  as  jacobinism 
would  do,  as  common  property  and  unmarried  alhance 
would  do.  Thus  antediluvians  laughed  at  the  Ark. 
Hiding  from  view  the  fact  that  whatever  philanthropy 
irrigates  the  desert  of  humanity,  is  the  product  of  this 
very  Church  and  this  very  Christianity.  They  calumni- 
ate the  mountain  spring,  and  claim  all  its  flowing  lakes 
and  rivers  as  their  own.  But  you  will  agree  with  me, 
that  the  prevalent  infideUty  assumes  to  be  the  benefactor 
of  mankind. 

4.  The  infidelity  of  our  time  is  extending  itself 
among  the  less  cultivated  classes.  Begun  in  learning, 
it  was  almost  proverbial  in  ancient  times  that  Chris- 


26  OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 

tianity  was  gladly  received  by  the  poor,  while  it  was 
rejected  by  the  learned.  Something  of  this  was  true 
a  century  ago.  The  virus  of  French  unbehef  was  gene- 
rated among  scholars,  and  fomented  in  courts  and 
academies.  During  the  progress  of  the  anarchy  which 
preceded  Napoleon,  the  leading  spirits  were  men  of 
education ;  the  brutal  masses,  it  is  true,  maddened  by 
long  oppression,  feverish  with  the  thirst  of  freedom,  and 
confounding  Christianity  with  the  despotism  of  the 
priesthood  and  the  confessional,  abjured  the  Redeemer, 
and  well-nigh  offered  up  the  idea  of  God.  This  was  more 
from  false  political  notions  however,  than  from  any  de- 
Hberate  theory  of  rehgious  unbehef.  And  when  Deism, 
or,  perhaps,  Atheism,  came  over  sea  into  many  minds 
in  America,  it  was  principally  among  speculative  men, 
who  aspired  to  be  philosophers.  But  our  own  day  has 
seen  a  very  great  increase  of  this  tendency  in  anti- 
christian  systems  to  popularize  themselves.  The  most 
capable  observers  tell  us  concerning  Germany,  for  ex- 
ample, that  the  language  of  unbelief  and  blasphemy  is 
no  longer  confined  to  the  schools  and  universities  where 
it  hngered  long.  The  upland  waters  have  broken  them- 
selves away,  and  are  flooding  the  champaign.  There 
is  reason  to  fear  that  in  central  and  northern  Europe 
the  masses  of  the  people  are  rapidly  becoming  corrupt 
in  regard  to  the  essentials  of  religion.  In  lands  where 
it  is  difficult  to  find  a  boy  or  a  girl  who  cannot  read, 
thousands  and  myriads  are  growing  up  to  neglect  all 
pubhc  worship  and  all  private  prayer.     I  grieve  to  say 


OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 


27 


it — ^but  a  great  number  of  the  foreigners  who  emigrate 
to  America  are  grossly  infidel.  It  is  the  solemn  and 
sorrowful  testimony  of  most  respected  clergymen  of 
their  own  race.  It  is  attested  by  the  radical,  and  often 
antichristian  avowals  of  the  numerous  newspapers  pub- 
lished among  us  in  that  language.  Nor  is  the  evil 
confined  to  one  country.  The  contagion  has  spread 
widely  among  the  working-classes  of  Great  Britain, 
many  of  whom  bring  over  their  scepticism  or  their  im- 
piety. It  may  be  safely  asserted,  that  wherever  we  find 
a  club,  society  or  institute  openly  and  loudly  infidel, 
we  may  detect  a  large  infusion  of  transatlantic  people. 
Yet  we  must  not  flatter  ourselves  that  our  native  popu- 
lation, especially  in  cities  and  large  towns,  enjoys  an 
exemption.  While  the  great  body,  through  Divine  fa- 
vour, remains  untouched,  the  new  generation  has  many 
growing  up  without  any  Sabbath,  indifierent  to  pubHc 
worship,  schooled  without  the  Bible,  a  ready  prey  to 
false  religionists  in  the  first  place,  and  thus  prepared  to 
take  the  further  step  into  denial  of  all  revelation.  The 
means  of  grace  do  not  any  longer  reach  our  population 
in  its  length  and  breadth.  Churches  rise  in  great  num- 
bers, where  the  truth  is  preached  and  honoured;  but 
other  places  of  rehgious  teaching,  in  equal  numbers, 
draw  crowds  into  Universalism,  Socmianism,  enthusi- 
astic and  fanatical  heats,  and  insane  pretensions  to 
mysterious  influence  and  spiritual  revelation.  And 
then,  what  numbers  in  civic  populations  frequent  no 
house  of  worship  !     A  late  writer,  of  much  observation 


28  OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 

and  detail,  speaking  of  the  street-people  of  London,  as- 
sures us  that  thirty  thousand  of  this  single  class  never 
enter  any  place  of  religious  instruction.  We  have  not 
reached  this  extreme ;  but  are  we  not  on  the  way  ?  It 
is  matter  of  observation,  that  our  churches  are  generally 
filled  with  at  least  well-doing  people.  But  where  are 
the  vastly  greater  numbers  of  those  who  still  more  need 
the  consolations  of  the  gospel  ?  I  bring  no  charges, 
brethren ;  indeed,  I  have  the  sickening  faintness  of  one 
who  beholds  a  great  malady,  but  is  not  prepared  to  an- 
nounce a  specific  remedy ;  revived  Christianity  being 
the  only  real  cure.  Por  my  present  argument,  it  is 
enough  to  point  to  this  state  of  things,  obviously  in- 
creasing, as  a  proof  that  the  modern  irreligion  is  widely 
prevalent  among  the  humbler  portions  of  society. 

5.  The  Infidelity  of  our  times  is  strikingly  immoral 
in  its  tendency.  All  falsehood  in  religion  is  by  its  very 
nature  opposed  to  virtue ;  but  in  varying  degrees,  ac- 
cording to  the  presence  or  absence,  and  according  to 
the  degree,  of  the  causes  already  enumerated.  Satan 
does  not  always  display  the  cloven  foot.  The  minister 
of  darkness  does  not  at  once  disclose  himself  in  the 
colours  of  the  pit.  It  is  the  pohcy  of  unbelief,  while 
working  its  way  upward  into  public  favour,  to  assume 
the  garb  of  purity.  Hence,  there  have  been  many 
avowed  infidels  who,  out  of  the  very  pride  of  sect,  have 
led  lives  of  scrupulous  outward  virtue.  Lord  Herbert 
of  Cherbury  is  not  the  only  Deist  who  has  seemed  to 
outshine  many  a  Christian  professor.     But  in  our  day, 


OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF.  . »  29 

the  evil  tree  is  hung  all  over  with  its  proper  loathsome 
fruit.  The  prevailing  forms  of  unbehef  in  revelation 
are  accompanied  with  manifest  deterioration  of  morals. 
When  men  begin  to  go  astray  in  conduct,  and  to  in- 
dulge any  great  vice,  they  gladly  embrace  such  errors 
as  may  stupefy  conscience,  and  so  enable  them  to  sin 
unchecked.  And  then,  the  effect  in  turn  becomes  a 
cause ;  and  by  an  inverse  action  the  falsehood  breeds 
irregularity  and  crime.  Go  where  you  wiU,  among 
families,  neighbourhoods  or  communities,  where  there 
has  been  shipwreck  made  of  faith,  and  you  observe  a 
correspondent  injury  of  the  moral  sense.  It  is  almost 
an  unfailing  index  of  the  modem  infidel,  that  he  in- 
veighs against  the  perpetuity  and  sanctity  of  marriage. 
By  an  easy  process,  the  sanctions  of  property  are  worn 
away.  Inoculate  any  large  class  with  antichristian 
opinions,  and  the  contagious  influence  becomes  horridly 
rife.  An  angry,  relentless  spirit  of  discontent,  mutual 
distrust,  lust  of  change,  revolutionary  fire,  and  general 
disquiet,  plays  on  the  features  and  inflames  the  lan- 
guage. The  great  and  invaluable  gift  of  freedom  fur- 
nishes no  safeguard  here,  unless  it  be  coupled  with  true 
rehgion.  Freedom  is  only  a  condition,  under  which 
men's  principles  act.  If  those  principles  are  destruc- 
tive, freedom  is  but  an  open  door  to  ruin.  The  abso- 
lute freedom  of  a  thoroughly  immoral  people,  "  hateful 
and  hating  one  another,"  would  be  nothing  short  of 
hell.  Indeed,  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  does  not 
allow  men  to  remain  long  in  any  state  approaching  this ; 


30  OUE  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 

for,  in  dread  of  one  another,  they  are  fain  to  take  refuge 
under  the  protective  shadow  of  miUtary  domination  or 
imperial  tyranny. 

Blessed  be  God,  the  rehgion  which  fled  to  this  new 
world  for  an  asylum  is  still  spared  to  us ;  and  there 
are  wide  agricultural  districts  which  have  not  been 
reached  by  more  than  the  rumour  of  philosophic  infideh- 
ty  and  disorganizing  wrong.  Yet,  so  far  as  this  rehgious 
guard  has  been  impaired,  the  consequence  has  been  a 
relaxation  of  public  morals. 

It  is  not  perfectly  easy  to  declare,  how  far  we  may 
trace  to  this  source  the  increase  of  crime,  which  is  mat- 
ter of  every-day  complaint.  Some  think  that  breaches 
of  mercantile  confidence  are  less  rare  than  fifty  years 
ago.  The  journals  of  every  morning  famiharize  us  to 
the  record  of  murder.  And  suicide,  the  special  crime 
of  those  who  deny  a  future  retribution,  is  committed 
with  a  frequency  which  often  robs  the  gibbet  of  its 
prey.  I  might  note  other  crimes,  but  your  memory 
and  observation  will  supply  what  it  might  be  inconve- 
nient to  describe  from  this  place.  It  admits  no  denial, 
that  while  individual  exceptions  occur,  the  usual  result 
of  disbelief  in  the  Evangelical  Scriptures,  is  an  open 
declension  of  morahty,  and  that  this  result  is  especially 
remarkable  at  present. 

II.  In  the  opening  of  these  remarks  it  was  ad- 
mitted that  the  period  of  Infidelity  in  which  we  are 
Uving  has  not  reached  its  term,  and  that  to  judge  it 


OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF.  »*  32 

fully  we  must  wait  till  the  causes  now  in  action  shall 
have  worked  out  their  full  results.  Por  there  is  a  growth 
in  opinion  as  truly  as  in  the  rise,  progress  and  end  of  a 
human  being ;  and  though  in  both  cases  there  may  be 
further  consequences,  it  is  rather  by  lineal  descent  than 
by  the  continuance  of  individual  life.  There  is,  more- 
over, a  wide  extent  in  the  prevalence  of  great  falsehoods. 
Beginning  in  one  comer  of  the  world,  they  spread  them- 
selves from  country  to  country ;  and  just  as  the  harvest 
comes  at  a  different  month  in  Canada,  in  Maryland,  and 
in  Mississippi,  so  the  full  crop  of  infidelity  is  not  seen 
at  one  and  the  same  time  in  aU  lands.  In  some  it  has 
begun  to  scatter  its  narcotic  seeds,  while  in  others  there 
is  but  the  tender  blade  emerging  from  the  furrow ;  but 
this  very  gradation  enables  us  to  study  the  character  of 
the  growth.  If  in  certain  places  we  find  the  mature 
plant,  with  its  poisonous  juices  thoroughly  concocted, 
we  thereby  learn  what  we  may  expect  from  the  young 
and  perhaps  attractive  flower  which  blooms  among  our- 
selves. There  are  countries  where  infidehty  may  be 
said  to  have  run  its  race  and  displayed  all  its  stages  of 
insidious  promise  and  eventual  desolation.  Such  was 
Prance  under  the  Revolution.  There  are  others  in  which 
it  is  only  beginning.  Dreadful  as  it  is,  it  is  nevertheless 
true,  that  the  presses  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
have  issued  thousands  of  copies  of  the  last  century's 
infidelity,  in  the  works  of  Voltaire,  Volney,  Rousseau, 
and  Paine,  in  Spanish  translations  for  the  South  Amer- 
ican market.     And,  as  if  the  malignity  of  Satan  could 


32  OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 

have  no  rest,  some  of  these  same  books  have  been  labo- 
riously and  widely  circulated  in  the  native  languages  of 
the  East  Indies,  to  corrupt  the  ignorant  and  besotted 
Hindoo,  and  to  close  his  mind  against  the  gospel. 
Such  states  of  opinion  are  widely  diflPerent  from  that 
which  exists  among  ourselves,  as  indeed  our  own  state 
differs  from  that  of  some  European  nations,  where 
vaster  strides  have  been  made  towards  the  denial  of  all 
moral  distinctions  and  of  God  himself.  Thus  the 
giant  pestilence  of  our  day,  which  circumnavigated  the 
globe,  began  in  Asia  and  traversed  Europe  before  it 
showed  its  ghastly  visage  on  our  western  shores  twenty 
years  ago.  But  this  gradual  accession  of  the  plague 
allowed  and  encouraged  medical  skill  to  examine  the 
nature  of  the  disease  long  before  the  treatment  of  it 
became  a  practical  question.  We  have  been  consider- 
ing a  more  fatal  malady  which  is  traversing  the  earth, 
and  of  which  the  symptoms  are  not  deathly  coldness  and 
spasms  of  bodily  pain,  but  mental  delusion,  palsied  con- 
science, and  a  heart  ossified  by  godless  falsehood.  We 
have  seen  it  seizing  men  of  learning,  taste  and  civiliza- 
tion, and  then  stealing  like  an  infection  into  the  crowded 
haunts  of  labour  and  the  hovels  of  want.  We  have  de- 
scried in  it  a  type  differing  from  the  infidel  deceptions 
of  a  former  generation.  We  are  old  enough  to  remem- 
ber its  beginnings  under  this  new  form  among  our- 
selves ;  and  we  open  our  eyes  to  its  more  consummate 
virulence  in  countries  where  it  has  more  deeply  corroded 
the  vitals  of  Christianity.     We  are  alarmed  at  daily  in- 


OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF.  33 

dications  of  its  stealthy  but  effectual  expansion  in  the 
literature  and  society  around  our  doors.  We  begin  to 
tremble  for  our  children  and  successors.  Unless  the 
whole  picture  has  been  overcharged,  we  read  in  all  this 
a  lesson,  which  may  cast  a  sober  hue  over  the  thoughts 
of  even  the  most  selfish  and  worldly. 

1.  We  are  loudly  admonished  to  be  on  our  guard. 
When  pestilence  is  in  the  air,  wise  householders  look 
well  to  the  symptoms  of  their  family.  When  enemies 
are  in  a  land,  true  generalship  throws  out  its  parties  of 
reconnaissance,  and  keeps  a  sharp  eye  on  every  suspicious 
wayfarer  and  every  sign  of  treachery  and  ambush. 
When  the  freedom  of  a  kingdom  is  endangered,  patriots 
are  awake  to  every  sign  of  increased  power.  These  are 
not  tremors  of  cowardice,  but  salutary  precautions  of  pru- 
dence and  benevolence.  It  is  because  we  are  not  igno- 
rant of  Satan's  devices,  that  we  maintain  an  equal  vigi- 
lance against  our  spiritual  adversaries.  Snares  are 
harmless  when  discovered,  and  "in  vain  is  the  net 
spread  in  the  sight  of  any  bird.'' 

But  it  is  not  enough  to  be  aware  of  danger  in  general ; 
we  must  know  from  what  quarter  and  in  what  particular 
form  to  expect  it.  If  infidelity  made  its  first  demon- 
strations in  all  the  dark  and  bloody  colours  of  downright 
atheism  and  Kcentiousness,  it  would  never  show  a  con- 
vert. It  is  the  very  insidiousness  of  the  approach  wliich 
magnifies  our  peril.  Hence  our  first  duty  is  to  know 
the  enemy,  and  if  possible  to  know  his  most  covert  ad- 
vances. We.  must  learn  to  pull  off  masks  and  see 
3 


34  OUR  MODERN"  UNBELIEF. 

through  disguises,  to  distrust  honeyed  words,  and  fear 
our  foes  even  when  they  come  bearing  gifts.  This  im- 
phes  a  sufficient  acquaintance  with  the  whole  system  of 
positive  truth  to  know  when  any  part  of  it  is  attacked, 
and  then  information  as  to  the  ways  in  which  those  at- 
tacks are  Hkely  to  be  made.  Among  the  multitude  of 
books,  public  journals,  orations,  lectures,  sermons,  poems, 
and  common  talk,  in  which  we  hve,  there  are  every  day 
some  which  propose  antichristian  opinions.  As  truth 
is  one  and  error  manifold,  no  human  faculty  can  fore- 
see the  precise  mode  in  which  falsehood  will  be  pre- 
sented by  a  wily  foe ;  and  therefore  the  grand  safeguard, 
as  we  shall  see,  is  a  knowledge  of  the  truth.  But  sub- 
sidiary to  this  is  a  watchful  scrutiny  of  every  principle 
which  assaults  or  undermines  any  particular  doctrine  of 
God.  These  false  teachings  often  begin  far  away  from 
the  point  at  which  they  really  aim ;  but  such  is  the 
contexture  and  harmony  of  the  Divine  system,  that  it 
begins  to  give  way  upon  the  surrender  of  any  leading 
propositions.  Those  wretched  persons  who,  from  being 
speculative  Christians,  have  become  atheists,  arrived  at 
this  catastrophe  by  a  series  of  acts.  Nemo  repentefuit 
turjpissimus.  Hence  the  need  of  watching  the  earliest, 
slightest  symptoms  of  the  disease.  Our  danger  is  aU 
the  greater  in  proportion  as  we  have  allowed  the  close 
and  thorough  religious  instruction  of  households  to  fall 
into  desuetude.  There  are  many  among  us  who  read 
abundance  of  books,  but  among  them  so  Httle  of  Chris- 
tian theology,  that  they  do  not  even  recognise  the  deadly 


OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF.  35 

sentiments  of  the  worst  systems,  if  offered  to  them  with 
prettiness  of  diction,  cant  phrases,  pretension  to  phi- 
losophy, and  the  rounded  voice  of  a  popular  lecturer. 

The  devices  of  falsehood  are  Protean.  Let  me  cull 
out  of  a  wide  field  of  tares  a  handful  for  a  sample.  And 
for  reasons  already  given  we  must  include  errors  which 
echo  from  pulpits  as  well  as  from  Hberal  clubs.  Be  on 
your  guard  then,  brethren,  against  the  doctrine  of  man's 
irresponsibility  for  his  belief.  As  soon  as  you  have 
opened  your  mind  to  this  pregnant  tenet,  you  have  ad- 
mitted within  your  walls  a  Trojan  horse,  fraught  with 
enemies  to  consume  both  hearth  and  altar.  Por  such 
is  the  blinding  influence  of  sin,  that  you  have  only  to 
make  a  man  wicked  enough,  to  make  him  capable 
of  believing  any  thing,  even  that  there  is  no  harm  in 
murder  and  voluptuousness,  or  that  there  is  no  God. 
Yet  this  is  a  popular  doctrine  of  the  age,  the  entering 
wedge  which  shall  rend  the  entire  evangehcal  fabric. 
Keep  a  watch  against  the  absurd  dogma,  that  man  is 
the  creature  of  circumstances ;  so  that  every  human 
soul  is  in  opinion  and  character  just  what  the  things 
around  him  necessitate  him  to  be,  and  hence  not  re- 
sponsible for  the  vileness  or  the  crime  which  he  could 
by  no  possibility  prevent  or  remove.  In  this  article 
of  current  unbehef,  we  have  fatalism  with  a  vengeance. 

Shun,  as  you  would  sugared  arsenic,  the  sHghtest 
suggestion  that  there  are  no  essential  moral  distinctions. 
Your  arch-poisoner  is  too  crafty  to  teU  you  outright  that 
there  is  no  difference  between  right  and  wrong.     But 


35  OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 

he  will  sweeten  the  cup  of  death  with  such  forms  as 
these,  that  Virtue  has  no  essence  but  its  tendency  to 
promote  happiness ;  or  that  sin  is  a  very  different  affair 
when  viewed  from  the  side  of  man  and  from  the  side  of 
God ;  or  that  God  can  no  more  make  a  universe  without 
sin,  than  two  mountains  without  a  valley  between  ;  or 
that  vice  is  no  otherwise  vice  than  as  it  is  judged  such 
by  the  conscience.  Though  the  unsuspecting  youth 
often  receives  these,  from  incapacity  to  reason  far 
enough,  he  is  actually  preparing  himself  for  the  denial 
of  eternal  morality. 

Recognise  your  antichristian  enemy,  though  in  gown 
and  bands,  when  he  whispers  to  you  that  there  is  no 
punishment  after  death,  a  doctrine  which  is  spreading 
like  a  contagion  in  city  and  country.  We  may  trace  to 
it  the  relaxed  morals  of  millions,  and  the  manifest  in- 
crease of  self-murder,  since  many  a  villain  would  fly  to 
the  rope  if  he  were  dehvered  from  the  dread  of  a  here- 
after. 

Guard  your  soul  against  the  fallacy  that  there  are 
no  mysteries  in  rehgion,  or  that  no  man  can  beheve 
what  is  above  his  understanding*  In  another  place,  it 
might  be  proved  that  this  is  as  contrary  to  philosophy 
as  to  religion;  but  here  we  are  simply  denouncing 
traitors  in  our  camp. 

Above  all,  fix  your  eye  with  detestation  on  every  at- 
tempt to  deny  or  impair  the  Inspiration  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. This  it  is,  in  which  all  schools  of  infidehty,  an- 
cient and  modem,  join  hands.    So  long  as  a  man  admits 


OUR  MODERN  UXBELIEF. 


37 


the  plenary  inspiration  of  these  books,  we  have  some 
ground  common  to  us  and  him,  and  some  admitted  me- 
dium of  proof ;  and  even  though  he  be  in  grievous  error, 
we  may  hope  to  reclaim  him.  He  may  be  a  Papist,  but 
so  was  MartiQ  Luther;  he  may  be  a  Socinian,  so  was 
Thomas  Scott.  While  a  man  hstens  to  God  speaking  in 
this  Word,  the  case  is  not  desperate.  But  how  can  we 
argue  from  Scripture  with  one  who  holds  only  so  much 
of  Scripture  to  be  authoritative  as  he  could  have  dis- 
covered himself,  who  selects  the  parts  which  he  shall 
reject  as  fable,  and  who  is  a  Scripture  to  himself? 
When  these,  or  any  of  these,  or  any  like  these,  present 
themselves  for  your  behef,  know  ye,  that  your  enemy  is 
at  your  door ;  be  on  your  guard,  and  be  not  ignorant 
of  his  devices. 

2.  The  existence  of  such  snares  should  urge  us  to 
seek  protection  against  the  invasion  of  falsehood.  It  is 
not  enough  to  know  our  enemy  even  in  his  feints  and 
subterfuges ;  to  this  we  must  add  positive  means  to  escape 
from  his  devices.  All  these  means  come  at  last  to  a 
single  one,  behef  of  the  truth.  This,  being  the  fexact 
opposite  of  InfideHty,  is  incompatible  with  it,  and  ex- 
clusive of  it.  Large  and  iatimate  knowledge  of  divine 
verities,  and  strong  faith  in  the  same,  are  the  only  pro- 
tection ;  and  this  is  infaUible  and  sovereign,  which  ought 
to  be  comforting  to  those  overtasked,  feeble,  or  unlet- 
tered disciples,  who  cannot  read  many  books,  and  who 
might  otherwise  be  confounded  at  the  sight  of  an  enemy 
spread  on  every  side,  changing  his  martial  columns  at 


38  OUR  MODERlf  XmBELIEF. 

every  instant,  and  seeking  entrance  at  every  avenue. 
Thanks  be  to  God !  in  order  to  be  an  instructed  and 
firm  Christian,  it  is  not  necessary  to  answer  all  the  ob- 
jections of  the  freethinker,  or  even  to  know  them.  You 
are  not  required  to  soar  into  the  metaphysic  of  Hegel, 
or  plunge  into  the  sty  of  Epicurus.  Divine  Truth  is 
its  own  defence.  Its  system  is  so  compact,  ordered, 
symmetrical  and  harmonious,  that  it  proves  itself ;  and 
the  more  you  learn  of  it,  the  more  you  find  each  por- 
tion demonstrative  of  every  other.  "  He  that  believeth 
hath  the  witness  in  himself."  But  for  this,  the  hum- 
ble, unschooled  behever  would  be  left  to  the  impHcit 
faith  of  the  Papist,  for  it  is  obvious  he  could  not 
traverse  the  encyclopedia  of  scientific  evidence.  The 
engines  of  defence  are  subhme  and  impregnable,  and 
have  proved  mighty  in  the  hands  of  teachers  and  learn- 
ed champions,  to  stop  the  mouths  of  adversaries.  But 
they  are  not  indispensable  to  the  private  Christian.  His 
demonstration  lies  nearer  home.  Cowper  felt  this,  when 
he  contrasted  Voltaire  with  the  pious  lace-weaver,  a 
hapfy,  humble  woman,  who 

"Just knows,  and  knows  no  more,  her  Bible  true, 
"  A  truth  the  brilliant  Frenchman  never  knew." 

The  divine  method  of  arming  the  soul  against  sceptical 
attacks,  is  to  shed  into  it  behef  of  the  revealed  word  by 
the  Holy  Ghost  sent  down  from  heaven.  This  is  ac- 
complished every  day  in  those  who  never  so  much  as 


OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF.  39 

spelled  out  the  names  of  the  great  unbelieving  authors. 
Indeed,  even  in  the  case  of  accomphshed  theologians, 
who  are  called  professionally,  and  often  with  great  pain 
to  themselves,  to  turn  over  volumes  of  sophism  and  im- 
piety, in  order  to  frame  a  reply,  the  solid  confidence  of 
which  they  are  conscious  is  not  founded  so  much  on 
these  rephes,  as  on  that  inward  demonstration  of  the 
Spirit  which  is  common  to  them  and  the  most  unlettered 
hind.  Every  experienced  Christian  has  proofs  of  the 
truth  of  Christianity,  which  no  external  science  can 
shake.  He  is  more  sm-e  that  this  Bible  is  the  very  word 
of  his  redeeming  God  and  Father,  than  he  ever  can  be 
that  such  or  such  an  assertion  of  Geology  or  Astronomy 
is  true.  And  to  this  interior  citadel  he  continually  re- 
sorts, under  all  the  temporary  shocks  produced  by  the 
ever  changing  tactics  of  infidel  discovery.  The  same  is 
true  of  objections  founded  on  doctrinal  difficulties,  on 
Scriptural  interpretation,  on  alleged  absurdities  or  con- 
tradictions in  the  revealed  Word.  His  conviction  and 
assurance  of  the  great  mass  of  divine  truth  is  such,  that 
he  can  wait  for  the  resolution  of  particular  doubts,  as 
being  certain  that  they  admit  a  solution  even  if  un- 
known to  him.  True  piety  teaches  him,  as  clearly  as 
does  true  philosophy,  to  acquiesce  in  that  golden  maxim 
of  all  healthy  minds,  not  to  let  doubts  about  what  is 
difficult  disturb  his  belief  of  what  is  plain.  Some 
indentations  of  the  coast  he  may  never  have  surveyed, 
he  may  have  found  them  laid  down  on  no  chart ;  but 
those  great  lights  and  forelands  which  have  guided  all 


40  OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 

his  voyage,  lie  will  not  surrender  or  deny,  because  they 
cannot  be  descried  through  the  clouded  glass  of  the 
scoffer.  Such  is  the  protective  power  of  faith  under  in- 
fidel assault. 

Confirmation  of  this  is  afforded  by  a  fact,  known  to 
all  who  are  famiHar  with  conversions  of  unbelievers,  that 
these  transformations  are  not  commonly  wrought  by  the 
slow  process  of  taking  down  the  infidel  structure  doubt 
by  doubt,  and  building  in  its  stead  the  Christian  structure 
proof  by  proof;  but  that  the  scoffer  is  pierced  by  con- 
viction of  his  guilt,  like  any  common  sinner,  and  led  to 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  childlike  faith.  It  is  often 
long  before  his  doubts,  in  their  entire  series,  are  sever- 
ally resolved,  but  the  blow  has  been  struck  which  pros- 
trates the  capital  unbelief  of  the  heart. 

A  deep  and  thorough  acquaintance,  therefore,  with 
the  positive  truth  of  Scripture,  followed  by  cordial  and 
evangelical  acceptance  of  it,  is  the  sure  bulwark  against 
the  operations  of  antichristian  error  on  our  own  hearts. 

There  are,  however,  as  was  suggested  before,  some 
subordinate  precautions  to  be  observed.  If  it  is  neces- 
sary to  have  the  mind  possessed  by  the  truth,  it  is  all- 
important  for  this  end  to  shut  out  the  inroads  of  error. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  foolhardy  adventure  into  an 
enemy's  country.  Rehgious  falsehood  sometimes  comes 
in  such  a  shape  as  to  stimulate  the  curiosity  of  the  un- 
wary, as  the  fruit  of  the  Tree  of  Knowledge  tempted 
Eve.  Sometimes  it  is  the  vehicle  which  is  attractive. 
It  may  be  elegant  style,  it  may  be  romance,  it  may  be 


OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF.  ^^ 

closely-knit  argumentation,  it  may  be  popular  eloquence. 
The  union  of  several  such  fascinations  may  invite  the 
youthful  student  to  taste  the  poisonous  clusters,  and  ac- 
quire the  taste  for  doubts  and  cavils.  The  most  seduc- 
tive and  cunning  argument  against  future  retribution, 
which  our  age  has  produced,  is  contained  in  a  poem  of 
high  talent,  which  you  will  find  in  every  shop.  The 
name  and  fame  of  some  great  heretical  preacher,  or  some 
orator  who  dehvers  infidel  sermons  under  the  guise  of  lec- 
tures to  the  people,  summon  numbers  of  half-instructed 
people,  who  admire  and  acquiesce,  and  go  again,  not 
knowing,  in  their  simphcity,  that  the  new  doctrines  which 
they  drink  in  will  presently  unsettle  all  the  rehgious  behef 
of  their  childhood.  Happier  far  is  the  faith  of  the  vulgar, 
than  Hterary  advancement,  bought  at  such  a  price.  It  is 
a  plain  maxim  of  common  sense,  not  to  tamper  with  infec- 
tion ;  and  he  is  a  fool  who,  for  the  mere  sake  of  proving  his 
boldness  and  freedom  from  bigotry,  rushes  uncalled  into 
the  miasmatic  influence  of  false  teaching.  "  Cease,  my 
son,"  says  the  wise  man,  "to  hear  the  instruction  that 
causeth  to  err  from  the  words  of  knowledge."  Prov.  xix. 
27.  "Take  heed,"  said  Incarnate  Wisdom,  "what  ye 
hear."  The  caution  which  is  good  for  yourself,  is  good  for 
your  children  and  dependents.  A  httle  mineral  admixture 
in  their  daily  bread,  a  Httle  morbific  quahty  in  their  daily 
milk,  would  be  justly  dreaded,  as  tending  to  wear  away  the 
health ;  yet  the  daily  journal  enters  your  doors,  distilling 
by  Httle  and  Httle  false,  latitudinarian  and  radical  opinions. 
No  marvel  if  you  find  your  old  age  surrounded  by  sons 


42  OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 

who  have  made  shipwreck  of  the  faith.  Christian  parents 
and  teachers,  it  is  impossible  to  watch  too  affectionately 
the  literature  which  comes  into  the  hands  of  the  young. 
If  you  desire  them  to  be  guarded  and  manly  Christians, 
their  pabulum  must  be  truth.  It  is  as  certain  of  the 
mind  as  of  the  body,  that  whatsoever  is  taken  into  it 
should  tend  directly  to  its  growth  or  strength ;  all  that 
is  otherwise,  is  noxious.  Nutrition,  moreover,  is  a  grad- 
ual process,  the  result  of  repeated  acts.  If,  then,  the 
mind  and  character  are  to  make  progress,  and  acquire 
firmness,  there  must  be  not  slight  and  occasional,  but 
regular  and  extensive  study  of  God's  revealed  will.  Nor 
is  there  a  household  among  us  which  does  not  need 
reformation  in  this  particular.  Thus,  by  promoting 
knowledge  of  truth,  anjd  discouraging  famiharity  with 
falsehood,  we  may,  under  God's  blessing,  do  much  to 
protect  ourselves  against  abounding  infidehty. 

3.  In  such  a  time  of  prevailing  error,  it  becomes  us 
to  prevent  its  diffusion  in  society.  Let  me  not  be  con- 
sidered an  alarmist.  There  are  ten  thousand  good 
things  of  which  we  are  altogether  undeserving,  and  for 
which  we  ought  to  be  giving  thanks  ;  and  among  these 
we  must  reckon  numberless  Christian  churches,  com- 
prising a  host  of  God's  people.  Yet  I  teU  you  no  new 
thing,  my  hearers,  when  I  repeat  that  there  is  a  mixed 
multitude,  especially  in  our  towns,  who  have  made 
terms  with  the  enemy  and  sacrificed  their  faith.  If 
frank  Deists  and  open-mouthed  Atheists  are  less  com- 
mon than  they  were  about  the  beginning  of  the  century ; 


OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF.  43 

if,  as  is  undeniable,  it  is  disreputable  for  a  man  to  attend 
no  place  of  worship  ;  if  society  shudders  when  one  dis- 
tinctly condemns  or  ridicules  the  Bible ;  it  is  still  true 
that*  disbelief  in  revelation  prevails  among  a  large  part 
of  our  people,  including  men  of  letters  and  science,  jour- 
nalists and  authors.  And  the  danger  is  not  lessened 
but  much  increased,  when  such  persons,  by  a  new  de- 
vice of  Satan,  profess  to  war  by  our  side  under  the 
standards  of  Christianity,  and  even  afiPect  to  preach 
that  Jesus  whom  they  disbelieve  and  despoil  of  aU  his 
glory.  Nay  more,  few  who  have  not  made  the  inquiry 
a  special  business,  have  any  adequate  conception  how 
many  of  another  class  are  professed  sceptics  or  real  in- 
fidels ;  how  many  cherish  a  low  and  brutal  materiahsm 
and  atheism  under  some  names  of  social  reform ;  how 
many  associations  and  meetings  for  debate  are  kept  up 
by  these  so-caUed  liberals ;  how  many  cheap  volumes  go 
to  swell  the  black  sewers  of  this  underground  torrent ; 
and  how  many  newspapers,  in  German  as  well  as  Eng- 
Hsh,  are  more  or  less  characterized  by  abuse  of  the 
church,  the  ministry,  and  the  Bible.  Various  methods 
may  be  proposed  for  stemmuig,  averting  and  drying  up 
this  river  of  death,  and  no  one  of  them  is  to  be  regarded 
with  coldness.  But  after  all,  the  great  method,  in  ac- 
cordance with  principles  already  laid  down,  is  to  preach 
the  gospel  and  gather  the  church.  Other  means,  with 
incidental  benefit  no  doubt,  tend  to  diffuse  themselves, 
and  to  be  lost  by  too  wide  dispersion.  The  evangelic 
method  tends  to  permanency  and  settlement.     Every 


44  OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 

missionary  effort,  rightly  conducted,  fixes  a  centre, 
plants  a  standard,  designates  a  rallying-point,  draws  in 
one  and  another,  and  at  length  a  group,  a  society,  a 
multitude,  builds  on  a  foundation,  and  binds  together 
in  a  structure  which  shall  abide.  Every  single  church 
gathered  in  the  truth  and  moved  by  the  Spirit,  is  a 
permanent  and  energetic  organ  for  the  destruction  of 
infidelity  around  it.  Especially  true  is  this  among  the 
more  rude  and  ignorant,  to  whom  the  preacher's  voice 
is  the  instrument  of  instruction  in  divine  truth,  in  place 
of  printed  books,  reviews,  magazines  and  rehgious 
newspapers.  One  bold  and  sustained  effort  to  keep  up 
gospel  means  at  a  fixed  point,  though  among  the  worst 
dens  of  a  great  city  or  suburb,  shall  do  more  to  root  out 
impious  unbehef  in  its  precincts,  than  a  thousand  ran- 
dom assaults  on  the  individuals  who  are  misled  and 
corrupted.  Such  has  been  the  experience  of  all  who 
thus  laboured  in  the  mighty  work  under  Whitefield  and 
Wesley.  This  is  our  chief  hope  for  populations  like  our 
own.  A  single  good  beginning,  in  a  smaU  circle,  does 
a  certain  amount  of  this  warfare  against  error,  by  estab- 
lishing a  lasting  spring-head  of  truth  and  grace.  But . 
let  these  isolated  posts  become  only  numerous  enough, 
and  the  widening  circle  of  one  will  touch  the  widening 
circle  of  another,  till  whole  districts  will  be  so  far  occu- 
pied, that  the  unconquered  interstices  will  be  absorbed, 
just  as  the  clearings  of  the  new  countries,  at  first  mere 
patches  in  the  forest,  few  and  far  between,  grow  and 
multiply  and  touch  one  another,  and  coalesce  into  the 


OUR  MODERN"  UNBELIEF.  ^k 

wide  continuous  civilization  of  agricultural  territories 
and  states.  We  find,  therefore,  in  the  prevalence  of  in- 
fidelity a  new  motive  to  attempt  gospel  effort.  Even 
the  freethinking  and  unbelief  of  the  educated  and  taste- 
ful will  feel  the  impression  of  a  wide-spread  piety  among 
the  masses.  Precisely  in  the  way  which  has  been  indi- 
cated did  Christianity  make  its  conquest  of  GentiHsm 
in  early  times.  Precisely  in  this  way  was  the  Reforma- 
tion extended  among  our  forefathers. 

But  you  need  not  be  told,  brethren,  that  Christians 
possess  other  weapons  for  the  demolition  of  InfideHty. 
The  invention  of  printing  has  endowed  the  silent  volume 
with  a  voice  which  is  heard  not  only  by  the  assemblage 
of  a  single  edifice,  but  by  tens  of  thousands  at  once. 
And  when  we  allude  to  books  against  atheism,  deism, 
and  all  varieties  of  unbehef,  we  cannot  refrain  from 
naming  one  which  ought  to  be  known  and  circulated. 
It  has  converted  more  opposers  than  any  other ;  it  an- 
swers every  counter  argument,  and  displays  the  entire 
force  of  Christianity.  I  have  it  here ;  it  is  the  Bible. 
Safely  may  it  be  said,  that  the  best  possible  way  to  be 
reclaimed  from  doubt  and  persuaded  of  divine  certain- 
ties, is  to  give  a  serious  and  candid  perusal  to  this 
portable  volume ;  just  as  the  surest  mode  of  being 
aware  of  fight  is  to  open  the  eyes  upon  the  sun.  The 
devil,  among  his  arsenal  of  devices,  has  this  for  a  mas- 
terpiece, to  abstract,  close,  lock  up,  forbid,  exterminate 
the  Bible.  Sometimes  under  a  red  cap  of  anarchy,  and 
sometimes  under  a  black  cowl,  he  steals  away  or  tears 


46  OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF. 

away  the  sacred  Scriptures,  from  nations,  from  schools, 
from  individual  readers;  but  we  are  not  ignorant  of 
his  devices.  Let  infidelity  and  superstition  and  hierar- 
chy, change  their  tune  at  pleasure  from  wheedling  to 
fury,  we  will  clasp  this  book  to  our  hearts,  we  will  send 
it  to  our  neighbour.  We  will  multiply  and  cheapen 
copies  ;  we  will  translate  them  into  every  tongue ;  we 
will  despatch  them  on  the  wings  of  every  commerce ; 
we  will  carry  them  as  angels  of  salvation  into  every 
wilhng  house.  Yea,  "  this  will  we  do  if  God  permit  1 " 
And  so  doing,  "  we  will  not  fear,  though  the  earth  be 
removed  and  though  the  mountains  be  carried  into  the 
midst  of  the  sea.  There  is  a  river,  the  streams  whereof 
shall  make  glad  the  city  of  God." 

Yet,  churches  and  Bibles  depend  for  their  efficacy  on 
the  direct  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  an  agency 
which  it  is  part  of  the  reigning  infidelity  to  disbeheve, 
but  for  which  we  will  pray,  as  the  chief  hope  of  our  sal- 
vation. Who  can  tell  how  far  the  revolutionary  atheism 
of  Prance  might  have  become  the  established  irreligion 
of  America,  if  it  had  not  pleased  God  to  make  our 
country  the  theatre  of  mighty  and  extensive  revivals  ? 
Perhaps  I  address  some  who  love  to  recall  these  awaken- 
ings, as  the  scenes  in  which  they  were  made  to  know 
Christ.  Such  will  join  in  testifying,  that  the  pro- 
gress of  convincing  and  converting  grace  did  not  wait 
for  the  tedious  preparative  of  philosophic  reply  and 
formal  argument,  but  went  forth  to  consume  at  once 
and  forever  the  difficulties  of  the  sceptic  and  the  cavils  of 


OUR  MODERN  UNBELIEF.  ^y 

the  deist,  as  the  flame  of  a  conflagration  reduces  com- 
bustible obstacles  in  its  rapid  and  blazing  career.  All 
other  means  together  wiQ  not  do  so  much  to  rid  our 
land  of  antichristian  scoffing,  as  would  one  general  com- 
munication of  power  from  on  high.  Increased  prayer 
for  this  fresh  dispensation  is  the  duty  of  the  Church. 
This  is  the  defensive  means  which  Satan  and  his  hosts 
dread,  while  they  cannot  emulate.  They  can  blas- 
pheme, they  can  argue,  they  can  fight,  they  can  write 
books,  and,  if  need  be,  quote  Scripture  for  their  pur- 
pose; but  pray  they  cannot.  Our  word  should  be, 
"  Let  God  arise,  let  his  enemies  be  scattered ;  let  them 
also  that  hate  him,  flee  before  him."  Ps.  Ixviii.  1.  The 
more  we  recognise  the  devices  of  the  enemy,  the  more 
should  we  gather  around  the  footstool  of  Him  who  will 
shortly  bruise  Satan  under  our  feet.  "  In  meekness, 
instructing  those  that  oppose  themselves  ;  if  God,  per- 
adventure,  will  give  them  repentance  to  the  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  truth;  and  that  they  may  recover 
themselves  out  of  the  snare  of  the  devil,  who  are  taken 
captive  by  him  at  his  will." 


II. 

THE  DIVINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY. 


THE 

DIVINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY.* 


2  Tim.  ii.  19. 
"He  cannot  deny  himself." 


It  is  of  God  that  these  words  are  spoken;  and 
they  constitute  one  of  those  divine  maxims  which  He 
among  the  very  fomidations  of  truth,  and  are  fitted  to 
be  our  guide  and  corrective  in  every  part  of  theology. 
The  apostle  Paul  argues,  that  however  we  may  disbe- 
heve,  God  remains  faithful,  because  he  cannot  deny  him- 
self, that  is,  he  cannot  be  untrue  to  his  own  nature. 
This  seems  plain  enough  at  the  first  statement,  needing 
no  demonstration,  a  self-evident  proposition,  almost  a 
truism ;  yet  it  admits  of  being  pondered  over  and  un- 
folded ;  and  it  is  the  more  needful  to  enlarge  upon  it, 

*  New  York,  December  17, 1848. » 


52  THE  DIVINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY. 

because  in  many  of  its  practical  applications  it  is  con- 
stantly denied. 

The  Being  and  Attributes  of  God  are  the  basis  of 
all  theology.  We  can  never  be  right  on  lesser  points, 
when  we  are  wrong  here.  This  makes  it  greatly  im- 
portant for  us  to  have  some  clear  and  settled  belief  re- 
specting Him  whom  we  worship.  Every  religious  error 
may  be  traced  up  more  or  less  directly  to  some  miscon- 
ception and  unbelief  respecting  the  character  of  God. 
And  we  need  the  less  marvel  at  the  prevalence  of  such 
errors,  when  we  consider  how  few  deliberately  and  lov- 
ingly think  of  God  at  all,  and  how  even  the  best  and 
holiest  of  men  faint  in  their  contemplations,  finding  it 
easier  to  study  creatures  than  the  Creator ;  which  makes 
it  a  concern  of  every  one  of  us  to  attain  some  adequate 
notions  on  a  subject  which  is  fitted  to  arrange,  preserve 
and  regulate  all  our  other  knowledge.  Let  no  one 
complain  of  us  as  adducing  what  is  abstract,  recondite, 
and  far  from  the  track  of  ordinary  thought  and  duty. 
For  what  can  be  nearer  to  us  than  He  who  formed  us, 
in  whom  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being  ?  Or 
what  can  be  more  profitable  than  that  which  has  its 
direct  bearing  on  every  other  part  of  the  Christian 
scheme?  We  shall  not  therefore  lose  anytime,  if  we 
wisely  meditate  on  this  consistency  of  God  with  him- 
self, or  the  adorable  harmony  of  all  his  perfections. 

The  subject  will  become  more  distinct,  if  we  con- 
sider the  truth,  that  we  are  constrained  to  think  of 
God  as  an  infinitely  perfect  Being.     In  this  the  true 


THE  DIVINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY.  53 

God  separates  himself  by  an  immeasurable  gulf  from 
all  the  cliviuities  of  polytheism.  He  is  One,  and  he  is 
absolute.  When  we  think  of  that  which  has  any  im- 
perfections, we  are  not  thinking  of  God.  Much  of  our 
conception  of  God  is  arrived  at  by  a  negative  process ; 
that  is,  by  denying  of  the  Most  High  every  thing  which 
is  faulty  or  imperfect.  We  take  those  qualities,  for  ex- 
ample, which  are  included  in  our  idea  of  God,  and  lift 
each  of  these  up  to  an  infinite  sublimity.  Is  it  Being  ? 
We  immediately,  justly,  and  by  a  sort  of  logical  instinct, 
think  of  that  Being  which  has  no  imperfections.  It  is 
therefore  unlimited  being,  for  all  limitation  implies 
weakness,  dependence,  or  subordination.  It  is  immen- 
sity of  being.  Por  the  same  reason  it  is  independent 
being ;  because,  on  whom  or  what  can  it  depend  ?  It 
is  necessary  existence ;  God  cannot  but  be,  and  be  what 
he  is.  In  like  manner,  when  we  conceive  of  God  as  a 
Spirit,  and  arrive  at  the  apprehension  of  him  as  an  In- 
telligence, the  mind  naturally  and  irresistibly  proceeds 
to  divest  this  idea  of  all  the  defects  and  limitations 
which  belong  to  creatures.  It  is  infinite  Knowledge, 
supreme  Reason,  absolute  Wisdom.  The  laws  of  our 
very  thinking  demand  this.  Any  thing  less  than  this 
falls  short  of  God.  The  same  mode  of  illustration 
might  be  derived  from  each  of  the  Divine  attributes, 
which  for  this  very  cause  we  are  accustomed  to  call  per- 
fections. Por  if  we  worshipped  a  being  who  had  any 
even  the  least  imperfection,  then  would  he  not  be  Su- 
preme, not  the  Highest  and  Best ;  yet  every  man  is 


54  THE  DIVINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY. 

conscious  that  when  he  is  searching  for  God,  if,  haply, 
he  may  find  him,  he  cannot  rest  content,  except  when 
supposing  the  acme  of  excellence.  Take  away  any 
the  least  ray  of  glory,  and  it  is  no  longer  the  deity 
you  seek,  for  above  and  beyond  this  Hmited  and  imper- 
fect divinity  you  can  conceive  of  one  all  perfection; 
and  this  is  what  reason  demands  in  the  true  God.  So 
true  is  this,  namely,  that  the  idea  of  God  includes  that 
of  infinite  perfection,  that  we  perpetually  employ  it  as 
a  medium  of  investigation  and  a  corrective  of  our  con- 
clusions. Having  found  out  a  httle  concerning  the 
dread  Supreme,  we  render  that  little  valuable,  by  de- 
nying of  it  all  imperfection  and  removing  from  it  all 
boundaries.  Let  me  not  be  considered  abstruse ;  for  the 
principle  alluded  to  is  both  important  and  very  precious, 
and  is,  I  am  persuaded,  level  to  the  ordinary  hearer, 
who  will  yield  his  attention.  We  might  illustrate  it 
by  any  one  of  the  Divine  attributes.  Suppose  we  take 
one  of  the  most  undeniable.  As  soon  as  we  conceive  of 
God  as  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  all  material  nature, 
we  attribute  to  him  a  presence  with  all  his  works.  But 
the  invincible  disposition,  just  stated,  to  remove  all 
limits  and  imperfections  from  God,  causes  us  at  once  to 
make  this  presence  Omnipresence.  There  is  no  point  in 
his  dominion  where  he  is  not.  But  the  same  mode  of 
reasoning  leads  us  further  still.  The  presence  of  crea- 
tures is  divisible  ;  that  is,  each  is  partly  in  one  place 
and  partly  in  another ;  and  the  vaster  they  are,  the  more 
divisible.     Por  example,  the  solar  system  is  present  in 


THE  DIVINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY.  XX 

a  certain  dimension  of  space ;  but  part  is  here  and 
part  is  there,  and  between  the  extremes  is  a  distance 
which,  to  our  poor  measurement,  seems  infinite,  as  it  is 
certainly  immense.  Not  such  is  the  presence  of  God. 
This  mode  of  presence  which  we  ascribe  to  the  stellar 
universe,  has  two  imperfections  ;  one  from  being  matter 
and  the  other  from  being  creature.  God  is  not  present 
in  any  divisible  sense,  because  he  is  indivisible.  He  is 
not  partly  here  and  partly  there ;  there  is  not  one  part 
of  God  in  heaven  and  another  here  and  yet  another  in 
the  planet  Saturn ;  because  God  is  without  all  parts. 
We  are  forced,  therefore,  by  a  necessity  of  reason,  to 
fell  upon  a  new  kind  of  presence,  a  presence  which  is 
unique,  without  example  or  parallel,  to  meet  the  con- 
ditions of  Omnipresence.  God  is  then  all-present  at 
every  point  of  the  universe,  at  one  and  the  same  time. 
All  there  is  of  God  (I  speak  reverently)  is  fully  in  every 
place  in  his  dominions,  at  one  and  the  same  instant ; 
and  this  because  we  attribute  to  him  the  absence  of  all 
imperfection,  such  as  division  would  be.  So  strong  is 
our  rational  determination  to  abstract  all  fault  and  all 
limit  from  our  idea  of  the  Most  High.  This  Omni- 
presence of  God  has  its  difficulties.  Would  we  desire 
a  God  whose  nature  should  have  no  depths  ?  It  is  a 
mystery.  It  transcends  our  discursive  understanding ; 
yet  we  believe  it ;  all  but  Atheists  beheve  it ;  we  can- 
not but  beheve  it :  sound  reason  compels  us  to  beheve, 
however  difficult  it  may  be,  that  of  which  the  contrary 
is  self-contradictory  or  absurd.     And  let  me  step  aside 


56  THE  DIVINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY. 

from  the  direct  line  of  inquiry  to  say,  that  sound  reason 
in  the  same  way  allows  us  to  believe  other  mysteries 
which  we  cannot  fully  comprehend,  such  as  the  Trinity 
and  the  Incarnation.  But  we  return  to  observe,  that 
everywhere  in  theological  science  we  hold  fast  to  the 
first  principle,  that  nothing  must  be  affirmed  of  God 
which  does  not  belong  to  the  idea  of  an  infinitely  per- 
fect being ;  which  brings  the  subject  directly  under  the 
general  proposition  of  the  text.  He  cannot  deny  him- 
self; he  must  be  true  to  his  nature ;  nothing  can  be 
asserted  of  him  which  is  inconsistent  with  absolute 
perfection. 

AVe  advance  hardly  a  single  step,  when  we  say,  that 
all  the  Attributes  of  God  are  in  perfect  harmony  with 
one  another.  If  any  one  were  discordant  with  the  rest, 
or  with  any  other,  God  would  therein  deny  himself.  Our 
best  and  clearest  vicAVs  of  the  Great  Supreme  are  poor 
and  inadequate.  There  is  a  sublime  and  absolute  sim- 
plicity in  God,  which  we,  from  weakness,  must  take 
severally  and  by  parts.  Thus,  when  we  survey  some 
heavenly  orb,  no  astronomic  skill  enables  us  to  behold 
it  at  one  view.  We  wait  for  its  motion,  and  watch  how 
it  revolves  before  us,  and  catch  a  glimpse  of  side  after 
side.  The  ray  of  light  is  one;  but  in  the  prismatic 
spectrum  and  in  the  rainbow,  we  see  it  parted  into  hues ; 
while  the  violet,  the  indigo,  the  blue,  the  green,  the  yel- 
low, the  orange,  and  the  red,  seen  dispersed  in  the 
showery  arch,  are  one  sunbeam.  So  of  the  infinite  and 
primeval  Light,  all  the  perfections  are  glimpses  of  the 


THE  DR^IXE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMOXY. 


57 


same  indivisible  unity.  All  the  attributes  are  phases  of 
one  and  the  same  Divine  orb.  The  seeming  variety,  and 
still  more,  the  sometimes  seeming  contradiction,  arise 
from  the  incapacity  of  our  vision.  All  are  in  perfect 
harmony,  and.  whatsoever  violates  this  harmony,  by  ex- 
alting one  attribute  at  the  expense  of  another,  wars  mth 
the  maxim,  that  he  cannot  deny  himself.  This  modifi- 
cation in  the  statement  of  the  great  principle  allows  us 
to  apply  it  to  a  diversity  of  interesting  particulars.  Let 
us  briefly  make  the  attempt.  And  for  a  beginning,  we 
need  not  go  further  than  the  suggestions  of  the  text 
itself.  He  cannot  deny  himself.  What !  the  inconside- 
rate will  rejoin ;  and  is  there  any  thing  which  God 
cannot  do  ?  He  can  do  all  things ;  for  is  he  not  Om- 
nipotent? Of  a  truth,  God  is  Omnipotent.  At  this 
truth  we  arrive,  even  by  natural  religion,  and  on  the 
principle  already  adopted  by  us,  which  removes  all 
limits  and  asserts  all  perfection.  So  soon  as  we  admit 
a  Creator,  that  is,  one  of  power  sufficient  to  make  and 
sustain  the  Universe,  we  run  on  by  a  happy  necessity  of 
reason,  and  ascribe  to  him  all  conceivable  power.  Every 
sane  mind,  in  its  reflective  moments,  does  so.  Here 
the  Christian  agrees  with  the  serious  Deist.  Every 
thing  included  in  power,  in  infinite  power,  belongs  un- 
deniably to  God.  This  is  a  fixed  point,  and  whatever 
denies  this,  errs,  by  making  God  deny  himself. 

But,  does  it  therefore  follow,  that  in  respect  to  the 
Most  High,  there  is  nothing  that  can  be  called  impossi- 
bility, in  any  sense  ?     How  prone  is  poor  human  under- 


58  THE  DIVINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY. 

standing  to  play  tricks  upon  itself,  and  to  involve  its 
limited  faculties  in  the  meshes  of  entangling  words. 
This  was  the  fault  of  the  Schoolmen,  or  Latin  theolo- 
gians of  the  Middle  Age.  Never  were  there  minds 
more  keen  and  subtle,  but  they  dulled  the  edge  of  their 
nice  faculties  upon  questions  which  are  impracticable. 
They  debated,  for  example,  whether  God  could  cause 
the  same  thing  to  be  and  not  to  be,  at  the  same  time ; 
whether  he  could  cease  to  exist ;  whether  he  could  create 
two  mountains  without  a  valley  between,  or  a  triangle 
with  more  or  less  than  three  sides.  These  are  the  rid- 
dles of  childish  understanding.  When  we  ascribe  power 
to  God,  we  do  not  mean  an  attribute  which  is  at  war 
with  his  other  perfections ;  we  mean,  as  aforesaid, 
nothing  incompatible  with  the  subhme  and  infinite  idea. 
God  can  do  all  that  is  properly  an  object  of  power. 
Those  absurd  and  contradictory  suppositions  include  no 
object  of  power.  They  demand  no  might,  greater  or 
less.  He  who  should  do  them,  would  be  neither  stronger 
nor  weaker  for  the  achievement.  They  imply  no  ex- 
cellence and  savour  of  no  perfection.  They  are  incon- 
ceivable ;  the  mind  can  frame  no  notion  of  what  they 
are ;  a  jargon  of  words  without  a  sense.  There  is, 
therefore,  that  which  God  cannot  do ;  because  he  can- 
not deny  himself. 

But  some,  while  they  avoid  the  foUy  of  such  de- 
mands as  these,  fall  upon  another,  less  ridiculous,  but 
equally  full  of  danger.  Because  God  is  almighty,  say 
they,  he  can  destroy  all  the  sin  and  misery  in  the  Uni- 


THE  DIVINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY.  59 

verse ;  and  therefore,  lie  will  eventually  save  all  mankind, 
and  make  aU  creatures  happy.  I  would  not  introduce 
this,  if  it  were  not  one  of  those  suggestions  which,  at 
one  time  or  other,  find  lodgment  in  every  human  mind. 
Here  is  a  strange  mixture  of  truth  and  falsehood,  which 
must  be  carefully  dissected  apart.  God  can  do  aU 
things  ;  in  this  we  are  perfectly  agreed.  But  it  is  not 
a  just  inference,  that  he  will  do  all  that  he  can. 
Whether,  and  in  what  cases,  he  shaU  exert  his  omnipo- 
tence, is  to  be  determined  by  other  perfections,  which 
he  wiU  not  and  cannot  deny.  Looking  to  the  future,  do 
we  venture  to  predict,  that  an  Omnipotent  Ci^ator  and 
Governor  will  make  every  creature  happy  ?  But  if  we 
take  a  point  before  the  creation  of  man,  and  suppose  an 
angehc  spirit  to  be  speculating  on  the  probable  fortunes 
of  our  race,  is  it  not  certain  that  he  would  have  predict- 
ed a  world  without  sin  and  mthout  misery  ?  Would  he 
not  say,  the  Almighty  can  prevent  the  introduction  of 
sin,  and  he  will !  Yet,  how  false  would  have  been  such 
a  determination  !  The  answer  is  in  the  fact.  Sin  and 
misery  do  exist.  Our  earth  has  been  scarred,  and  burnt, 
and  drenched,  by  crime,  and  war,  and  famine,  and  pes- 
tilence, and  earthquakes.  Our  faculties  are  too  scanty 
for  the  resolution  of  such  high  problems.  That  it  was 
within  the  power  of  God  to  create  a  universe  into  which 
sin  could  not  enter,  no  sound  reasoner  can  deny.  Yet, 
he  did  create  a  universe  into  which  sin  has  actually 
entered.  He  is  in  no  sense  the  author  of  that  sin ;  and 
yet  he  did  not  prevent  it.     Such  is  the  fact.     No  man 


gQ  THE  DITINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY. 

has  ever  denied  it.  Must  we  not  conclude,  that  there 
are  limits,  not  to  the  power,  but  to  the  exercise  of 
power  ?  The  Wisdom,  the  Holiness,  the  Justice  of 
God,  all  perfections  which  must  be  honoured,  came  in 
with  awful  majesty,  to  produce  results  which  poor,  short- 
sighted man  cannot  comprehend.  He  cannot  deny 
himself. 

Let  us  look  again  at  the  text,  and  in  regard  to  the 
same  attribute.  There  are  those  things  which  God  can- 
not do.  As,  in  another  place,  "  God,  that  cannot  lie." 
Why  not  ?  Because  he  is  infinitely  holy,  and  infinitely 
true  ;  because  falsehood  would  militate  against  these  at- 
tributes; because  he  cannot  deny  himself.  The  ina- 
bility arises  from  his  moral  nature.  He  cannot  be  un- 
true or  unholy,  because  this  were  to  cease  to  be  God. 
Every  thing  within  us  rises  up  against  such  a  supposi- 
tion. The  infinite  Jehovah,  then,  has  no  capacity  of  evil ; 
and  this,  from  that  very  perfection  of  his  nature,  which 
we  love  to  assert  and  press.  We  must  beware,  there- 
fore, how  we  lightly  ascribe  to  God  those  things  which 
may  suit  our  narrow  prepossessions,  lest  unwittingly  we 
offend  against  some  of  his  blessed  attributes.  And 
hence  we  learn  how  closely  we  should  adhere  to  the 
teachings  of  Scripture,  in  respect  to  what  God  will  or 
will  not  do,  in  his  government  or  his  grace,  since  we 
know  little  of  his  plan  and  purpose,  except  what  he  has 
vouchsafed  to  express  in  the  Scriptures.  Secret  things 
belong  unto  God,  but  such  as  are  revealed  unto  us 
and  our  children.     And  we  must  continually  cherish  a 


THE  DIVINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY.  gl 

reverent  determination  to  indulge  no  thought  of  God, 
which  shall  be  discordant  with  his.  glorious  and  often 
inscrutable  perfections.  Let  it  stand  high  inscribed  on 
our  whole  fabric  of  derived  truth,  that  he  is  eternally 
and  immutably  consistent  with  himself. 

There  are  other  applications  of  this  cardinal  truth, 
which  will  at  once  occur  to  the  thoughtful  mind.  As 
God  cannot  deny  himself,  we  must  shun  the  error  of 
derogating  from  his  Wisdom,  Holiness,  Truth,  and 
Justice,  under  the  pretext  of  adding  lustre  to  his  Mercy. 
A  neglect  here  has  led  many  into  grave  errors  with  re- 
gard to  Atonement,  Satisfaction,  and  Justification.  If 
God  were  all  mercy,  no  Atonement  would  be  necessary. 
But,  "  a  God  all  mercy  were  a  God  unjust."  He  is  full 
of  mercy,  and  out  of  this  fulness  flows  the  tide  of  redemp- 
tion ;  but  in  such  wise  as  to  preserve  the  honour  of  his  law^ 
untarnished.  He  cannot  deny  his  law ;  he  cannot  deny  his 
justice  ;  he  cannot  deny  his  threatenings  of  truth.  Of  his 
infinite  compassion,  he  will  save  the  lost ;  but  it  shall  be  in 
such  a  way  as  shall  make  his  other  glories  more  illustrious. 
It  is  the  sublime  necessity  of  harmonizing  these  other- 
wise conflicting  traits  of  Divine  majesty,  which  calls  for 
the  exercise  of  that  grace,  "  wherein  he  hath  abounded 
toward  us  in  all  wisdom  and  prudence ;"  "  to  the  intent 
that  now  unto  the  principalities  and  powers  in  heavenly 
places  might  be  known  by  the  Church  the  manifold  wis- 
dom of  God."  He  cannot  deny  his  Wisdom.  It  is 
made  to  subserve  the  vindication  of  the  law.  Does  a 
bhnd  and  condemned  rebel  ask  that  sinners  should  be 


Q2  THE  DIVINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY. 

pardoned  without  a  satisfaction  ?  Such  is  not  God's 
method.  This  were  to  prostrate  Justice  and  the  Law 
in  the  very  dust.  How  different  a  course  does  infinite 
Wisdom  prescribe !  How  different  a  lesson  do  we  read 
in  the  crimson  spectacle  of  the  Cross  !  Mercy  is  grati- 
fied, but  Justice  triumphs,  "  to  the  praise  of  the  glory 
of  the  grace  wherein  we  are  accepted  in  the  Beloved." 
God  denies  neither  his  Justice  nor  his  Mercy.  And 
why  ?  Because  the  Word  is  made  flesh,  and  the  Only- 
Begotten  of  the  Father  dies  upon  the  tree.  "  Die  he,  or 
justice  must."  And  around  this  awful,  fascinating, 
transforming  sight,  we  behold  all  the  attributes  in  per- 
fect harmony,  and  God  immutably  true  to  himself.  The 
principle  of  the  text  shines  illustriously  in  the  whole 
work  of  redemption  ;  and  the  more  we  study  the  char- 
acter of  Jehovah,  the  more  shall  we  learn  that  the  divine 
consistency  of  this  character  made  it  impossible  that  sin 
should  be  pardoned,  unless  Christ  should  bear  "  our 
sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree."  But  the  same 
union  of  perfections  in  the  Divine  nature  presents  itself 
in  an  alarming  view,  when  we  consider  the  condition  of 
those  who  reject  God's  chosen  plan  of  salvation.  The 
soul  that  passes  into  eternity  without  an  interest  in 
Christ's  atoning  work,  faces  the  unmitigated  blaze  of 
vindicatory  law.  The  Cross  being  neglected,  there  re- 
mains no  more  sacrifice  for  sin.  Justice,  no  less  than 
mercy,  has  its  place  for  appropriate  triumph.  God  will 
fulfil  his  utmost  threatenings ;  for  he  cannot  deny  him- 
self.    On  whatsoever  side,  then,  we  look,  we  observe 


THE  DIVINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY.  gg 

the  beautiful  and  inviolate  harmony  which  subsists 
among  all  the  perfections  of  God.  In  conclusion,  I 
would  point  out  a  few  lessons  which  may  be  derived 
from  the  truths  on  which  we  have  meditated. 

1.  The  subject  aids  us  to  compare  and  settle  our 
minds,  in  regard  to  what  may  be  called  the  difficulties 
of  Scripture  and  theology.  These  all  arise  from  our  ig- 
norance, and  our  inabihty  to  fathom  the  mysteries  of  the 
Divine  Nature.  As  in  our  best  estate  on  earth,  "  we 
know  in  part,"  and  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  some 
of  these  enigmas  must  remain  unexplained,  so  long  as 
we  are  in  the  body.  The  only  part  of  wisdom  is  to  bow 
with  profound  reverence  to  whatever  is  revealed,  even 
though  we  may  be  incompetent  to  reconcile  it  with  other 
truths.  '  Thus  saith  the  Lord,'  ought  to  allay  all  doubts. 
Philosophy  has  wearied  itself  for  ages,  in  the  attempt  to 
reconcile  the  existence  of  physical  evil  with  God's  holi- 
ness and  goodness ;  but  not  the  slightest  advance  has 
been  made  in  the  explanation.  '  Why  did  God  permit 
the  fall  ?'  is  a  question  which  can  never  be  ansAvered, 
but  by  humbling  our  minds  before  the  general  consid- 
eration, that  divine  reasons  of  state  are  beyond  our  ken ; 
that  some  of  God's  attributes  may  demand  a  course  of 
government  beyond  all  our  expectation ;  that  his  wis- 
dom is  infallible  as  his  love  is  immense  ;  and  that  what- 
ever he  ordains  or  allows,  is  agreeable  to  the  concord  of 
those  perfections  which  we  at  awful  distance  revere  and 
worship.  The  same  is  true  with  regard  to  the  fearful 
doom  of  the  wicked.     The  finally  impenitent  shall  go 


54  THE  DIVINE  PERFECTIOXS  IX  HARMONY. 

away  into  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his 
angels.  The  smoke  of  their  torment  goeth  up  forever 
and  ever.  We  are  incompetent  to  decide  on  the  grounds 
of  this  undeniable  sentence  ;  just  as  we  are  unable  to 
explain  the  incalculable  amount  of  sin  and  misery  now 
actually  existing  on  earth.  We  do  not  comprehend  the 
infinite  depths  of  evil  there  are  in  sin ;  we  cannot  esti- 
mate the  glory  which  shall  redound  to  God  from  the 
never-ceasing  display  of  his  inflexible  justice ;  we  know 
not  how  far  such  an  exhibition  of  wrath  may  tend  to 
the  increased  sum  of  happiness,  in  all  the  remaining  in- 
teUigent  universe.  The  problem  will  one  day  be  solved. 
What  we  know  not  now,  we  shall  know  hereafter.  This 
and  all  inscrutable  facts  and  doctrines  shall  be  seen  to 
have  their  ground  in  some  perfection  of  God,  or  in  the 
harmony  of  all  his  perfections.  We  may  safely  leave  the 
matter  in  such  hands.  God  is  love ;  and  there  is  no 
one  of  his  decrees  which  is  not  prompted  by  infinite 
benevolence.  We  may  not  see  the  connexion  or  con- 
sistency, in  all  cases,  but  this  is  conclusive — He  cannot 
deny  himself. 

2.  The  truth  we  have  been  considering,  may  en- 
courage us  to  commit  the  whole  matter  of  our  salvation 
to  God  with  implicit  confidence.  A  man  needs  a  strong 
foundation  on  which  to  lean  his  everlasting  interests. 
Ordinary  securities  will  not  avail  here.  When  storms 
assail  our  hope,  and  unnumbered  sins  arise  to  irritate 
our  conscience,  and  the  dreadful  justice  of  God  is  array- 
ed against  us,  especially  if  all  this  happens  when  death 


THE  DIVINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY.  ^5 

is  in  view,  we  need  sometliing  more  than  vague  expec- 
tation or  mere  probability.  The  true  basis  of  trust  is 
found  in  the  character  of  God ;  and  this  is  all-sufficient. 
It  is  the  part  of  revelation  to  make  this  known  to  us. 
It  is  the  part  of  faith  to  rely  upon  it.  The  constancy 
and  immutability  of  God  are  the  ground  of  our  security. 
If  he  were  changeful,  the  Universe  would  be  a  hell. 
How  ready  we  should  be  to  fly  into  despair  or  madness, 
if  the  God  in  whoAi  we  trust  were  uncertain  and  capri- 
cious, like  the  divinities  of  the  Gentiles  ?  But  he  says, 
"  I  am  Jehovah,  I  change  not,  therefore  ye  sons  of 
Jacob  are  not  consumed."  *  So  changeable  and  capri- 
cious are  we,  that  if  our  salvation  depended  on  om* 
abiding  constant  for  an  hour,  we  should  inevitably  be 
lost.  But  though  we  "  believe  not,"  or  are  unfaithful, 
he  is  faithful.  Especially  may  we  rely  on  his  covenant 
engagements,  from  which  he  will  not  draw  back.  His 
truth  is  confirmed  by  repeated  asseverations  ;  "  wherein 
God,  willing  more  abundantly  to  show  unto  the  heirs  of 
promise  the  immutability  of  his  counsel,  confirmed  it  by 
an  oath ;  that  by  two  immutable  things,  in  which  it  was 
impossible  for  God  to  lie,  we  might  have  a  strong  con- 
solation, who  have  fled  for  refuge  to  lay  hold  on  the 
hope  set  before  us."  How  refreshing  is  it,  to  look  away 
from  the  endless  vicissitudes  of  om-  own  hearts,  which 
ebb  and  flow  like  the  sea,  and  wax  and  wane  like  the 
moon,  to  Him  who  is  immutable,  and  whose  decrees  of 

*  Mai.  iii.  6. 


QQ  THE  DIVINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY. 

love  are  as  firm  as  his  very  being.  In  disheartening 
hours,  our  greatest  repose  is  obtained,  by  hfting  the  soul 
to  One  who  in  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same  yesterday,  to- 
day and  forever.  I  put  it  to  Christian  hearers,  above 
all,  to  such  as  are  habitually  prone  to  write  bitter  things 
against  themselves,  whether  they  are  not  more  ready  to 
ascribe  constancy  and  immutability  to  God's  justice, 
than  to  his  grace.  Yet,  he  can  no  more  be  unfaithful 
to  one  than  to  the  other.  Only  make  sure  of  an  inter- 
est in  his  covenant,  by  connexion  with  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  your  salvation  is  as  firm  as  the  throne  of 
eternity.  We  read  the  threatenings,  and  quake  because 
He  is  unchangeable.  Let  us  read  the  promises,  and  be- 
lieve that  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  before  one 
jot  or  one  tittle  of  his  gracious  engagements  shall  fail. 
He  cannot  deny  himself;  he  cannot  deny  his  Son.  We 
have  a  Surety,  in  his  nature  and  in  ours,  who  shall  make 
good  every  article  of  the  eternal  treaty.  And  how  re- 
splendent will  this  glory  of  grace  shine  forth  in  "  that 
day,"  when  the  elect  jewels  shall  be  made  up,  without 
one  loss,  even  of  the  faintest  creature  who  ever  behoved, 
and  when  every  vault  of  the  heavenly  city  shall  ring 
to  the  honour  of  Him  who  is  forever  true  to  his  own 
nature ! 

3.  In  every  moment  of  Hfe,  we  learn  fi-om  this  sub- 
ject to  look  up  to  the  harmonious  attributes  of  God, 
with  profound  adoration  and  lively  affection.  The  ob- 
ject is  glorious,  and,  above  all  others,  deserves  our  con- 
templation.    He  is  one  and  the  same.     The  changes  of 


THE  DIYINE  PERFECTIONS  m  HARMONY.  Q^ 

time  and  creatures  are  but  the  trifling  waves  which 
keep  up  their  noisy  flow  at  the  base  of  this  Eternal  Rock. 
He  was  infinitely  true  to  himself  before  time  began ; 
such  will  he  be  when  time  shall  be  no  more.  Every 
one  of  those  adorable  perfections  remains  in  plenitude 
of  majesty,  and  all  in  blissful  concord  with  each  other. 
"  He  is  the  Rock,  his  work  is  perfect :  for  aU  his  ways  are 
judgment :  a  God  of  truth,  and  without  iniquity :  just 
and  right  is  he  ! "  There  are  times  when  the  wavering 
soul  needs  recourse  to  such  thoughts.  There  are  wars 
and  tumults  among  the  people.  Nation  rises  against 
nation.  Iniquity  abounds,  and  the  love  of  many  waxes 
cold.  The  cause  of  truth  and  righteousness  seems  to 
tremble  ;  and  unbelief  suggests  that  the  plan  of  heaven 
has  changed  or  been  frustrated.  But  aU  these  muta- 
tions are  but  a  faint  ripple  on  the  surface  of  the  sea  of 
things.  "The  Lord  reigneth,  let  the  earth  rejoice." 
The  principles  of  his  government  are  more  settled  than 
the  everlasting  mountains.  "The  Lord  sitteth  upon 
the  flood ;  yea,  the  Lord  sitteth  king  forever."  Great 
calamities  startle  a  whole  population.  A  gallant  ship  is 
labouring  in  the  tempestuous  deep.  Stout-hearted  men 
quiver  with  apprehension  ;  veterans  who  have  stood  at 
the  cannon's  mouth  yield  to  awe  before  the  raging  ele- 
ments, and  the  cry  of  panic-struck  women  and  children 
ascends  amidst  the  crash  of  timbers  and  the  ruthless 
brawling  of  the  storm.  The  mountain  billow  makes  its 
clear  sweep  over  the  deck,  and  whole  bands  plunge 
through  the  wintry,  strangling   surge,  into   eternity. 


53  THE  DIVINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY. 

Has  God  closed  his  eyes  upon  his  creatures?  Nay, 
blind  insect  of  yesterday ;  it  is  He  who  orders  all.  He 
is  true  to  his  justice,  and  true  to  his  mercy.  "  Thy 
throne  is  established  of  old,  thou  art  from  everlasting. 
The  floods  have  lifted  up,  O  Lord,  the  floods  have  lift- 
ed up  their  voice  ;  the  floods  lift  up  their  waves.  The 
Lord  on  high  is  mightier  than  the  noise  of  many  waters, 
yea,  than  the  mighty  waves  of  the  sea."  However  he 
may  send  the  stroke  of  death,  which  he  sends  to  all, 
"just  and  right  is  he  ! "  He  cannot  deny  himself.  Be 
this  our  anchor,  when  in  regard  to  our  own  little  per- 
sonal affkirs,  the  billows  threaten  to  overwhelm  us. 
They  cannot  reach  the  throne  of  our  God,  nor  change 
the  settled  purposes  of  his  love.  Clouds  and  darkness 
are  round  about  him,  but  righteousness  and  justice  are 
the  habitation  of  his  throne.  Sometimes,  if  we  could 
look  into  his  heart,  we  should  discern  paternal  compas- 
sion behind  the  Hfted  rod.  Let  us  rejoice  that  he  is, 
and  such  as  he  is.  Let  us  glory  that  he  changeth  not. 
Let  us  summon  our  thoughts  away  from  all  creatm^es 
and  all  second  causes,  to  dwell  on  the  throne  that  cannot 
be  moved.  Though  all  else  fail,  it  is  well  with  us  if 
God  remains.  See  to  it  that  he  is  yours.  Hazard  not 
the  consequences  of  being  found  in  the  way  of  his  ad- 
vancing vengeance.  His  covenant  of  grace  is  sure,  but 
his  justice  is  as  irrevocable  as  his  love  is  fathomless. 
Now,  in  this  temporal  state,  the  offer  is  made,  to  change 
our  relation,  and  from  enemies  to  become  friends.  But 
presently,  a  trumpet  shall  sound,  to  tell  that  parley  is 


THE  DIVINE  PERFECTIONS  IN  HARMONY.  59 

over,  and  that  what  remaiiis  is  arrest,  adjudication, 
doom  1  O,  saint !  O,  sinner !  in  that  hour,  it  is  near, 
heaven  will  stand  vindicated,  thy  destiny  sealed,  thy 
heaven  or  hell  made  eternal.  Eor  he  cannot  deny 
himself!  . 


III. 

DIVINE  PBOVIDENCE  IN  PARTICULABS. 


DIVINE  PROVIDENCE  IN  PAETIOULARS.* 


Matthew  x.  30. 
"  But  the  very  hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered." 

The  subject  to  be  treated  from  these  words  is  that 
of  a  particular  providence.  And  by  a  particular  provi- 
dence, we  mean  a  divine  care,  unceasingly  bestowed  on 
all  creatures  and  aU  their  actions  ;  on  things  heavenly 
and  things  sublunary ;  whether  small  or  great,  whether 
good  or  evil;  whether  natural  or  moral;  whether 
necessary  or  free  ;  so  that  nothing  can  occur  in  the 
universe  which  is  not  immediately  governed  by  Om- 
nipotence. The  Epicureans  feigned  a  deity  who  takes 
no  cognizance  of  creatures.  The  followers  of  Aristotle 
seem  to  have  confined  the  divine  regards  only  to  celes- 
tial things.     The  Pelagians  withdraw  from  the  rule  of 

*  Princeton,  January  2, 1855.         * 


74  DIYINE  PROVIDENCE  IN  PARTICULARS. 

God  all  free  actions  of  moral  beings ;  and  men  of  the 
world,  professing  no  philosophical  creed  in  particular, 
entertain  a  vague  notion  of  some  general  oversight 
which  the  Supreme  Intelligence  exercises  since  creation, 
while  they  practically  deny  any  such  special  care  as  we 
have  just  asserted.  It  is  of  vast  importance  that  our 
minds  be  firmly  settled  on  this  fundamental  point. 
Generalities  will  not  suffice,  when  we  sustain  the  shock 
of  great  and  sudden  afflictions.  As  the  doctrine  of 
chance  is  the  most  absurd  and  cheerless  of  aU  human 
tenets,  so  any  approach  to  it,  by  withdrawing  a  part  of 
aU  events  from  the  circle  of  God's  plan,  tends  to  hesita- 
tion, darkness,  and  misery.  For  which  part  shall  we  so 
withdraw  ?  What  objects  and  what  acts  shaU  we  aban- 
don to  the  fortuitous  concussion  of  circumstances  ?  Or 
if  this  could  be  determined,  how  shall  we  be  assured 
that  the  particulars  in  which  we  affirm  God  to  have  no 
concern,  are  not  the  very  ones  on  which  our  highest 
happiness  hinges  ?  In  opposition  to  aU  such  irrational 
hypotheses,  we  maintain  that  he  who  firmly  behoves  in 
a  universal  providence,  extending  to  every  hair,  and 
who  feels  accordingly,  has  arrived  at  the  true  secret  of 
a  happy  life. 

We  argue  a  particular  providence  fi'om  a  particular 
creation.  That  which  God  has  deigned  to  make,  he  will 
condescend  to  care  for ;  and  that  which  he  has  made  in 
aU  its  minutest  details,  he  may,  without  derogation  from 
his  infinite  majesty,  continue  to  sustain  and  govern  even 
in    its  least  members  and    motions.     The    instance 


DIVINE  PROVIDENCE  INT  PARTICULARS.  J^ 

chosen  by  our  Lord  is  among  the  most  light  and  impalpa- 
ble of  all  objects  connected  with  the  human  frame.  Yet, 
under  the  glass  of  the  microscopic  anatomist,  the  single 
hair  presents  wonders  of  structure  and  adaptation  which 
no  human  hand  can  reproduce  or  imitate.  Indeed,  the 
further  down  we  go  into  the  interior  recesses  of  nature, 
all  invisible  to  the  naked  eye,  the  more  amazing  become 
the  revelations  of  power,  and  skUl,  and  goodness.  So 
that  the  very  antennae  of  the  fly  that  annoys  our  slum- 
ber, the  dust  of  the  downy  fruit,  and  the  volatile  pollen 
of  the  lily  or  the  rose,  awaken  new  adoration  of  Him 
who  is  7naximus  in  minimis,  greatest  in  that  which  seems 
least.  Take  any  inch-square  of  the  ground  we  tread 
on ;  and  to  the  eye  of  reverent  science,  it  is  a  world 
teeming  with  wonders.  Nor  do  we  observe  any  tend- 
ency to  a  termination  of  these  wonders,  or  any  Hmit  of 
this  creative  ingenuity,  though  we  press  our  investiga- 
tion to  the  utmost  length  which  adventurous  observation 
can  reach  with  its  most  elaborate,  costly,  and  recent  ap- 
pliances. The  finger  of  Omnipotence  is  still  before  us ; 
tracing  contours  of  beauty,  adding  lustrous  hues  far 
beyond  the  reach  of  human  gaze,  weaving  tissues,  con- 
veying tides  of  circulation,  and  adjusting  forces  with 
mathematical  exactness,  in  the  filament  of  the  tiniest 
floweret,  and  the  organ  of  the  evanescent  animalcule. 
Now,  that  which  it  was  not  unworthy  of  creative  power 
to  make,  it  is  not  unworthy  of  providential  care  to  up- 
hold and  govern.  Our  scale  of  measurement  on  this 
subject  is  arbitrary  and  partial.     We  knov7  httle  of 


iJQ  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE  IN  PARTICULARS. 

great  or  small,  as  applied  to  the  works  of  the  Almighty. 
In  his  eye,  there  may  be  as  much  value  in  the  Hving 
mote,  that  scarcely  darkens  our  vision,  as  in  the  levia- 
than of  the  hoary  waters.  And  here,  let  me  deviate,  if 
it  be  not  in  the  direct  line  of  our  argument,  to  expose 
the  emptiness  of  that  flippant  reasoning  of  half-philoso- 
phy, which  sometimes  makes  bold  to  jeer  at  our  doc- 
trine, that  all  things  were  made  for  some  good  end. 
These  laughing  sages  demand  of  us  for  what  purpose 
the  contemptible  insect,  which  flits  across  our  path  or 
alights  on  our  persons,  was  created.  Let  it  be  a  suc- 
cessful and  triumphant  reply  to  ignorant  and  imperti- 
nent scofling,  that  an  infinitely  benevolent  Creator,  be- 
sides other  reasons  unknown  to  us,  has  had  sufficient 
reason  for  the  production  of  wondrous  living  mechan- 
isms, in  the  securing  of  happiness  to  the  being  itself, 
which  thus  stands  forth  as  a  small  but  animated  argu- 
ment of  the  divine  goodness.  On  this  point,  I  gladly 
borrow  from  the  sometimes  erroneous,  but,  here,  incom- 
parable Paley ;  "  The  air,  the  earth,  the  water,  teem  with 
dehghted  existence.  In  a  spring  noon,  or  a  summer 
evening,  on  whichever  side  I  turn  my  eyes,  myriads  of 
happy  beings  crowd  upon  my  view.  ^  The  insect  youth 
are  on  the  wing.'  Swarms  of  new-born  flies  are  tiying 
their  pinions  in  the  air.  Their  sportive  motions,  their 
wanton  mazes,  their  gratuitous  activity,  their  continual 
change  of  place  without  use  or  purpose,  testify  their 
joy,  and  the  exultation  which  they  feel  in  their  lately 
discovered  faculties.     A  bee  amongst  the  flowers  in 


DIVINE  PROVIDENCE  IN  PARTICULARS.  i^J 

spring,  is  one  of  the  most  cheerful  objects  that  can  be 
looked  upon.  Its  life  appears  to  be  all  enjoyment :  so 
busy  and  so  pleased ;  yet  it  is  only  a  specimen  of  insect 
life,  with  which,  by  reason  of  the  animal  being  half  do- 
mesticated, we  happen  to  be  better  acquainted  than  we 
are  with  that  of  others.  The  whole  winged  insect  tribe, 
it  is  probable,  are  equally  intent  upon,  their  proper  em- 
ployments ;  and,  under  every  variety  of  constitution,  gra- 
tified, and  perhaps  equally  gratified,  by  the  ofiices  which 
the  Author  of  their  nature  has  assigned  to  them.'' — 
"  Walking  by  the  sea-side,  in  a  calm  evening,  upon  a 
sandy  shore,  and  with  an  ebbing  tide,  I  have  frequent- 
ly remarked  the  appearance  of  a  dark  cloud,  or  rather 
very  thick  mist,  hanging  over  the  edge  of  the  water,  to 
the  height  perhaps  of  half  a  yard,  and  of  the  breadth  of 
two  or  three  yards,  stretching  along  the  coast  as  far  as 
the  eye  could  reach,  and  always  retiring  with  the  water. 
When  this  cloud  came  to  be  examined,  it  proved  to  be 
nothing  else  than  so  much  space,  filled  with  young 
shrimps,  in  the  act  of  bounding  into  the  air  from  the 
shallow  margin  of  the  water,  or  from  the  wet  sand.  If 
any  motion  of  a  mute  animal  could  express  delight,  it 
was  this ;  if  they  had  meant  to  make  signs  of  their  hap- 
piness, they  could  not  have  done  it  more  inteUigibly, 
Suppose,  then,  what  I  have  no  doubt  of,  each  individual 
of  this  number  to  be  in  a  state  of  positive  enjoyment, 
what  a  sum,  collectively,  of  gratification  and  pleasure 
have  we  here  before  our  view."  * 

*  Natural  Theology. 


78  DIVINE  PROYIDENCE  IN  PARTICULARS. 

In  conformity  with  this,  we  believe  with  pleasure 
that  whatsoever  God  has  made,  even  to  the  smallest  de- 
tails, he  continues  to  preserve  and  regulate.  Provi- 
dence has  sometimes  been  considered  as  a  continued 
creation;  but  more  properly,  as  the  constant  will  of 
God  to  maintain  the  being  of  that  which  he  has  created. 
For  there  is  no  innate  power  of  self-sustentation  in  the 
creature ;  and  if  God  were  to  withdraw  his  power,  all 
that  he  has  made  would  collapse  into  its  original  nothing. 
Being  is  too  sublime  an  endowment  to  own  any  other 
source,  even  for  an  instant,  than  that  which  first  gave 
it.  We  are  to  look  on  nature  in  its  minutest  varieties, 
and  having  God  perpetually  standing  by  it,  upholding 
and  guiding.  In  this  there  is  nothing  low  and  nothing 
wearisome.  Omnipotence  is  equally  unexhausted  in 
driving  whole  stellar  systems  through  their  awful  incal- 
culable trajectories,  and  in  supporting  the  gossamer  that 
floats  over  our  autumnal  fields.  The  reason  of  creation 
thus  becomes  the  reason  of  providence,  and  we  exult  in 
the  truth,  as  sublime  as  it  is  consolatory,  that  the  hairs 
of  our  head  are  all  numbered. 

After  this  preamble,  we  argue  particular  providence 
from  the  express  teachings  of  Scripture.  Here  it  will 
be  necessary  to  use  selection.  First,  we  open  upon  pas- 
sages which  ascribe  to  God  the  wielding  and  governance 
of  all  things  in  general.  As  where  Nehemiah  prays : 
ix.  6,  "  Thou,  even  thou,  art  Jehovah  alone ;  thou  hast 
made  heaven,  the  heaven  of  heavens,  with  all  their  host, 
the  earth  and  all  things  therein,  and  thou  preservest 


DIVINE  PROVIDENCE  m  PARTICULARS.  79 

them  all."  As  when  Paul,  at  the  Areopagus,  challeng- 
ing  the  assent  of  even  a  heathen  auditory,  says,  "  Though 
he  be  not  far  from  every  one  of  us  ;  for  in  him  we  hve, 
and  move,  and  have  our  being."  As  when,  Heb.  i.  3, 
the  Son  of  God  is  represented  as  "  upholding  all  things 
by  the  word  of  his  power."  But  passages  of  this  sort 
are  numerous  and  famihar.  Next  we  meet  with  places 
where  this  very  particularity  of  providence  is  explicitly 
asserted.  Thus  the  smallest  as  well  as  the  greatest  ob- 
jects are  referred  to  his  care  ;  as  in  our  text,  and  in  that 
beautiful  and  parallel  instance,  "  Are  not  two  sparrows 
sold  for  a  farthing  ?  and  one  of  them  shall  not  fall  on 
the  ground  without  your  Father."  Or,  where  he  chides 
the  distrust  of  disciples  as  to  food  and  raiment,  by 
pointing  to  hhes  and  birds,  arrayed  and  fed  by  God ; 
in  other  words,  the  objects  of  his  careful  providence. 
The  very  insects,  used  by  the  sceptic  for  his  ill-timed 
jests,  were  fearfully  employed  in  vengeance  among  the 
plagues  of  Egypt ;  and  at  a  later  day,  the  locust,  the 
palmer- worm  and  the  caterpillar,  are  marshalled  by  him 
in  battle-array  against  a  guilty  land,  while  he  says,  Joel 
ii.  11,  "  And  Jehovah  shall  utter  his  voice  before  his 
army ;  for  his  camp  is  very  great." 

But  this  Providence  of  God  includes  in  its  range  a 
nobler  class  of  creatures,  even  those  which  are  rational 
and  immortal.  These,  with  aU  their  thoughts,  affec- 
tions, and  acts,  are  parts  of  his  marvellous  plan.  In- 
deed, if  these  were  excluded,  there  could  be  nothing  in 
the  doctrine  of  Providence  which  could  afford  us  any 


go  DIVINE  PROYIDENCE  IN  PARTICULARS. 

contentment.  It  were  a  mockery  to  tell  us  that  we 
should  have  safety  by  the  hand  of  Omnipotence,  in  re- 
gard to  the  powers  of  irrational  nature  ;  but  that  in  all 
that  concerns  the  free  or  the  wicked  actions  of  men,  we 
must  rely  on  ourselves  or  on  chance.  It  were  a  crippled 
and  insufficient  providence  which  should  guard  me 
against  the  serpent  or  the  tornado,  but  which  should 
leave  me  to  myself  the  moment  a  moral  and  responsible 
agent  came  upon  the  stage.  Yet,  this  is  the  strange, 
uncomfortable  doctrine  which  prompts  the  language 
heard  in  many  a  Christian  circle.  Which  of  us  has  not 
listened  to  such  words  as  these?  "I  could  bear  this 
trial,  if  it  were  ordered  of  God,  but  it  proceeds  from 
man.  It  is  not  providential,  but  from  wicked  human 
beings."  There  is  in  this  a  sad  confusion.  Such  a 
government  as  is  here  assumed,  would  be  no  providence 
at  all ;  and  would  render  aU  rule  impossible,  as  exclud- 
ing those  very  agencies  which  are  most  important.  And 
I  return  to  say,  that  the  Bible  teaches  no  such  doctrine. 
While  it  abhors  the  thought  of  making  God  the  author 
of  sin,  it  does  not  exclude  sinful  acts  from  his  wise  and 
holy  plan.  While  it  evermore  denies  God's  participa- 
tion in  the  evil  of  wicked  deeds,  it  still  asserts,  that  in 
the  directing  and  governing  of  such  deeds,  there  is  a 
sovereign  providence,  working  out  its  own  wise  and 
holy  ends.  "  Man's  goings  are  of  the  Lord ;  how  then 
can  a.  man  understand  his  own  way  ?  "  "A  man's  heart 
deviseth  his  way,  but  the  Lord  directeth  his  steps." 
The  wrath  of  man  shall  praise  him,  and  the  remainder 


DIVINE  PROVIDENCE  IN  PARTICULARS.  g^ 

of  wrath  He  will  restrain.  Let  it  be  clearly  fixed  in 
our  minds,  as  the  only  true  philosophy  of  this  subject, 
that  an  act  may  be  wicked,  as  to  the  intent  of  its  agent, 
and  yet  its  result  may  be  really  intended  by  God. 
Were  it  not  so,  we  could  have  no  relief  under  our  worst 
suflPerings,  namely,  those  which  we  endure  from  depraved 
and  malignant  human  creatures.  But  these  also  are 
providential.  Joseph's  brethren  committed  a  great  sin. 
This  none  can  deny,  so  far  as  they  were  concerned. 
Yet  was  it  strictly  and  particularly  providential :  "  So 
now  it  was  not  you  that  sent  me  hither,  but  God." 
"  God  did  send  me  before  you  to  preserve  hfe."  "  Ye 
thought  evil  against  me,  but  God  meant  it  unto  good." 
Here  is  particular  providence,  in  regard  to  free  and 
wicked  acts.  Other  instances  in  point  will  occur  to  the 
memory  of  the  scriptural  student.  Especially  the  great 
and  striking  case  of  our  Lord's  arrest  and  death ;  in- 
tensely wicked  as  to  its  free  perpetrators,  yet  a  part  of 
God's  providential  scheme  for  the  salvation  of  mankind. 
We  cannot  on  any  principle  of  reason  escape  from  this 
great  and  most  consolatory  truth.  The  dependence  of 
the  creature  upon  the  Creator  enforces  it.  As  man  is 
suspended  absolutely  on  God  for  his  being  and  his  life, 
so  also  is  he  dependent  on  him  for  his  power  to  act,  and 
for  the  acts  themselves.  If  for  the  body,  then  yet  more 
for  the  soul,  the  nobler  part.  Conceive  of  a  being  inde- 
pendent of  God  in  acting,  and  you  infer  a  being  inde- 
pendent also  in  essence.  But  if  he  is  dependent,  then 
is  he  in  all  his  actions  brought  within  the  circle  of  prov- 

6 


82  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE  IN  PARTICULARS. 

idential  ordering.  And  surely  there  can  be  derived 
neither  peace  nor  profit  from  the  doctrine,  that  a  large 
part  of  human  acts,  many  of  which  most  nearly  concern 
us,  are  performed  without  God's  knowledge,  which  were 
to  deny  omniscience  ;  or,  without  his  caring  for  them, 
which  were  to  deny  his  love ;  or,  without  his  power  to 
prevent  them,  which  were  to  deny  his  omnipotence. 
Yet,  this  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Epicurean,  of  the  world, 
and  of  many  who  suppose  themselves  to  be  Christians. 
As  none  but  infidels  deny  all  providence  outright — 
a  truth  which  forces  the  assent  of  the  sober  Deist — ^the 
usual  method  of  error  is  to  admit  some  general  care 
of  the  universe,  but  to  deny  such  care  as  extends  to 
minute  particulars.  And  this  misconception  is  widely 
prevalent  among  superficial  thinkers.  Now,  not  to  re- 
peat what  has  been  abeady  urged,  that  in  the  sense  in- 
tended there  is  with  God  neither  great  nor  small,  and 
that  there  is  to  the  Almighty  no  degradation,  nor  weari- 
ness, nor  waste  of  power,  in  caring  for  the  sparrow,  the 
hair  or  the  atom,  I  would  bring  it  before  the  serious 
consideration  of  doubters,  that  their  tenet  is  destructive 
of  all  providence  whatever  ;  and  that  if  there  is  no  par- 
ticular providence,  there  can  be  none  at  all.  General 
providence  infers  that  which  is  particular.  For,  surely 
these  deniers  do  not  mean  to  tell  us,  that  God  singles 
out  the  great  acts  of  the  universe  and  the  world's  his- 
tory, and  neglects  the  small.  In  this  case,  the  small 
must  after  all  be  considered  in  the  divine  prescience,  in 
order  that  they  may  be  left  out.     The  meaning,  per- 


DIYINE  PROVIDENCE  IN  PARTICULARS.  g3 

haps,  is,  that  Divine  wisdom  fixes  and  decrees  the  grand 
and  momentous  events  in  history,  but  fixes  not  minor 
and  intermediate  points.  But  look  a  Httle  more  close- 
ly, and  you  will  perceive,  that  those  momentous  points 
are  caused  and  determined  by  these  which  are  smaller. 
The  most  astonishing  changes  in  human  things,  which 
have  rent  empires,  and  made  the  world  ring  for  ages, 
have  depended  on  the  most  trifiing  occurrences,  and 
but  for  these  would  not,  and  could  not  have  been.  Did 
Providence  then  secure  the  great  event,  and  leave  its 
proximate  causes  to  be  settled  by  chance,  or  not  settled 
at  all  ?  The  rise  and  fortunes  of  Moses  occupy  a  just 
eminence,  as  connected  with  the  destiny  of  a  people  still 
subsisting.  Was  there,  or  was  there  not,  a  providence 
in  the  fact  that  the  princess  of  Egypt,  at  a  certain  hour, 
spied  that  wicker  cradle  upon  the  Nile  ?  It  was  a  grand 
event,  that  Christianity  should  be  carried  to  Ethiopia. 
Was  there  any  providence  in  the  meeting  of  Philip  and 
the  treasurer  of  Queen  Candace,  on  the  road  to  Gaza  ? 
The  death  of  Julius  Cesar  is  one  of  the  capital  events  in 
human  annals.  Was  there  a  providence  in  the  great 
man's  failing  to  read  the  scroll  of  papyrus,  handed  to 
him  in  the  crowd,  and  which  would  have  revealed  to 
him  the  conspiracy  ?  Nay,  each  of  us,  in  his  own  httle 
life,  can  recount  incidents,  trivial  in  themselves,  yet  di- 
rectly conducive  and  even  necessary  to  the  occurrence 
of  what  has  given  colour  to  our  whole  subsequent  ex- 
istence. The  truth  is,  general  providence  is  only  the 
sum  of  particular  providences,  as  every  whole  is  but  an 


84  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE  IN  PARTICULARS. 

aggregation  of  its  several  parts.  And  he  who  speaks  of 
a  providential  plan,  so  general  as  to  exclude  details  and 
minutiae,  utters  he  knows  not  what,  and  professes  what 
he  cannot  expound  even  to  his  own  conceptions.  Let 
us,  therefore,  reverently  and  dehghtedly,  come  back  to 
the  doctrine  of  our  childish  days,  which  is  at  the  same 
time  a  conclusion  of  the  profoundest  philosophy,  that  all 
events,  even  the  smallest,  fall  out  according  to  the  com- 
prehensive and  well-ordered  plan  of  a  sleepless  benig- 
nant and  all- wise  Ruler,  who  doeth  his  pleasure  in  the  ar- 
mies of  heaven,  and  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth. 
How  beautifully  this  shines  out  in  the  records  of  the 
Scriptures ;  making  them  herein  differ  strikingly  from 
all  other  annals !  This  clew  will  often  guide  us  through 
the  mazes  of  an  otherwise  inexphcable  narrative.  This 
will  often  explain  to  us,  why  some  things  are  given  in 
great  detail,  while  others  are  passed  over  in  silence. 
For,  the  accounts  given  in  Scriptm-e  are  the  history,  not 
so  much  of  the  intentions  of  man,  as  of  the  plans  of 
God.  Especially  in  the  vernal  sunshine  of  patriarchal 
days,  we  behold  God's  hand,  we  feel  his  presence,  we 
admit  his  agency,  at  every  turn.  And  all  the  way 
through  the  tangled  web  of  Judaic  history,  it  is  Jehovah 
who  is  the  planner,  it  is  Jehovah  who  is  the  hero  of  the 
story.  Well  were  it  for  each  of  us,  if  we  could  transfer 
this  spirit  of  the  Bible  to  the  explanation  of  our  own 
lives.  It  would  clear  up  many  a  day  of  clouds,  and 
solve  many  an  enigma.  In  this  behef,  I  dare  not  close 
without  certain  practical  conclusions  from  truths,  I  trust, 


DIYINE  PROVIDENCE  IN  PARTICULARS.  §5 

sufficiently  established.     We  may  sin  against  the  doc- 
trine of  a  particular  providence  in  several  ways. 

In  regard  to  the  past,  we  may  offend  by  repining, 
or  quaxreUing  with  providence.  It  is  one  of  our  daily 
and  most  heinous  transgressions,  excluding  the  thought  of 
God's  wise  and  beneficent  rule  from  the  events  of  our 
common  days.  The  sin  of  murmuring  was  the  fatal  ini- 
quity of  Israel  in  the  wilderness.  It  should  be  enough 
to  reconcile  us  to  every  event,  that  it  befals  us  agreeably 
to  the  wisdom  and  justice  and  mercy  of  God.  What 
misery,  what  weakness,  what  consumption  of  health, 
what  decay  of  spirits,  what  paralysis  of  effort,  what 
sourness  and  morose  care,  might  have  been  avoided,  if 
we  had  learnt  to  live  in  a  continual  submission  to  Provi- 
dence, as  to  every  particular  of  our  hves.  "  Lord,  in- 
crease our  faith ! " 

Akin  to  this  is  despair,  when  there  seems  to  be  no 
outlet  from  our  troubles.  It  may  befit  a  Cain,  a  Saul, 
or  a  Judas ;  but  not  a  child  of  God.  If  time  had  al- 
lowed, I  might  have  shown  how  Providence,  under  a 
special  covenant,  concerns  itself  for  those  who  shall  be 
heirs  of  salvation.  The  lessons  of  our  Lord,  abeady 
cited,  go  to  forbid  this  undue  despondency.  Hard  as 
it  may  be  for  unaided  nature,  it  is  the  prerogative  of 
grace,  when  the  night  is  darkest  and  most  dreary,  not 
only  to  submit  to  what  is  sent,  but  to  trust  and  hope  in 
God  for  the  future ;  and  there  is  a  blessing  on  such  ex- 
ercises of  soul.     Distrust  of  Providence  impHes  an  ac- 


86  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE  IN  PARTICULARS. 

tual  disbelief  of  God's  rule  and  disposal  of  the  events 
whicli  concern  ns. 

Another  sin  is  the  imputing  of  our  sins  to  God, 
which  is  a  horrible  abuse  of  the  doctrine  of  Providence. 
The  metaphysics  of  this  subject  may  be  difficult,  and 
we  are  not  called  upon  to  resolve  all  the  doubts  which 
may  be  raised  by  an  ingenious  and  perverse  reason ;  but 
a  few  undeniable  truths  stand  out  in  fire,  like  light- 
houses flaming  along  a  tempestuous  coast.  Whatever 
we  know  not,  we  do  know  that  the  Judge  of  all  the 
earth  will  do  right ;  that  God  cannot  be  tempted  of 
evil,  neither  tempteth  he  any  man ;  that  while  he  per- 
mits sin,  bounds  it,  and  overrules  it,  he  is  infinitely 
remote  from  being  its  cause,  and  from  participating  in 
its  mahgn  quahty ;  that,  as  all  good  is  from  above,  so 
all  the  evil  of  our  misdeeds  is  from  ourselves.  These 
plain  and  admitted  truths  should  rise  fully  before  us, 
when  at  any  time  we  are  tempted  to  charge  God  fool- 
ishly. 

Again,  there  is  a  perversion  which  turns  providence 
into  fate,  and  professes  to  hope  for  results  without 
using  means.  Whatever  is  to  be,  will  be — ^is  the  fa- 
mihar  maxim  of  the  profane  and  superficial  fatalist; 
often  upon  the  lips  of  those  who  have  no  real  belief  in 
providence.  Wise  men  know  that  he  who  orders  the 
end,  orders  also  the  means,  and  that  the  means  are  made 
necessary  to  the  end  by  the  decree  of  God  himself. 
Providence  is  itself  a  system,  regularly  working  by  a 
chain  of  means,  in  the   order  of  cause   and  efiect. 


DIVINE  PROYIDENCE  IN  PARTICULARS.  37 

Providence  does  not  ensure  the  result  in  spite  of  neg- 
lects and  omissions,  but  by  ensuring  the  means  required. 
Where  any  man,  whether  from  fataUsm  or  indolence, 
omits  the  performance  of  his  part,  providence  then  goes 
on  its  stately  march  to  produce  the  Milure  of  the  end. 
Hence  the  sin  of  presumption  is  chargeable  on  such  as 
rush  on  dangers,  uncalled,  in  the  profane  expectation  of 
safety  or  deliverance.  "  Thou  shalt  not  tempt  the  Lord 
thy  God."  In  things  temporal,  and  in  those  which 
concern  our  personal  salvation,  we  abuse  providence 
when  we  neglect  the  diligent  use  of  those  instrumental- 
ities which  God  has  ordained. 

Prone  to  extremes,  however,  sinful  human  nature 
sometimes  speeds  to  the  very  opposite,  and  relies  im- 
pHcitly  on  second  causes.  This  is  the  reigning  sin  of 
the  busy  world.  It  becomes  flagrant  in  many,  who, 
after  long  prosperity,  come  to  ascribe  aU  their  success  to 
their  own  endeavours,  forget  the  hand  which  has  sus- 
tained and  supported  them,  and  mentally  expel  the  God 
of  Providence  from  his  own  dominions.  Such  are  the 
sons  of  wealth,  who  fear  no  reverses,  give  no  thanks, 
expect  largely  from  self,  or,  as  they  speak,  from  luck, 
and  mean  to  be  happy  in  spite  of  God.  There  may  be 
cases  in  which  they  have  their  good  things  in  this 
world,  feel  no  bands  in  their  death,  and  expire  as  they 
have  Hved.  But  it  is  very  common  for  a  holy  and  just 
God,  by  some  stroke  of  his  judgment  on  body,  reason, 
family,  reputation,  or  estate,  to  show  such  persons,  as 
he  did  Nebuchadnezzar,  that  "  the  Heavens  do  rule." 


88  DIVINE  PROYIDEXCE  IN  PARTICULARS. 

We  shall  best  avoid  these  various  errors,  by  establish- 
ing our  minds  on  a  thorough  persuasion  of  God's  all- 
pervading,  all-embracing  providence.  And  happy 
should  I  be,  my  brethren,  if  the  words  now  spoken 
should  prove  seasonable  to  any  one  who  has  come  to 
this  house  overburdened  with  care.  To  such  a  heart 
the  blessed  assurance  of  the  text,  carried  home  by  the 
Spirit  of  grace,  will  become  a  sovereign  balm.  The 
bitterness  of  our  griefs  arises  from  our  denying  or  for- 
getting, that  whatsoever  Hes  heavy  on  our  lot  is  laid 
there  by  the  hand  of  Him  who  is  ordering  all  things 
for  our  good.  However  vexing  may  be  the  annoyances 
of  our  pilgrim  state,  the  loving  soul  can  bear  much  from 
the  hand  of  a  compassionate  Creator  and  Redeemer. 
These  unwelcome  visitations  are  intended  to  bring  us 
to  right  views  of  God's  government  of  all  things  for 
his  people.  Is  the  trouble  past  ? .  It  is  the  Lord 
who  hath  done  it ;  let  him  do  as  seemeth  him  good  ! 
Be  still,  and  know  that  he  is  God.  Is  it  present? 
Own  the  chastening  of  a  present  God,  who  doeth  all 
things  well,  and  who  is  near  you,  to  bring  good  out  of 
evil.  Is  it  future  ?  Take  no  anxious  thought  for  the 
morrow.  He  who  plans  in  wisdom  and  executes  in 
power,  is  your  Keeper,  your  Shield,  and  your  exceeding 
great  Reward.  Nothing  is  too  hard  for  his  might; 
nothing  too  little  for  his  condescension.  The  very 
hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered.  Apply  this  to 
the  circumstances  of  this  very  day  and  hour ;  apply  it 
to  those  second  causes,  which,  to  a  vainly-wise  unbelief 


DIVINE  PROVIDENCE  IN  PARTICULARS.  gg 

often  seem  too  insignificant  to  be  brought  to  the  foot  of 
the  infinite  throne.  You  may  use  a  child-hke  confi- 
dence in  coming  to  your  Father  in  heaven ;  you  may 
unbosom  before  him  your  smallest  disquietudes.  The 
thorn  in  the  traveller's  foot  is  sometimes  grievous  as  the 
sword  of  an  adversary.  The  strongest  Christians  are 
those  who,  from  holy  habit,  hasten  with  every  thiag  to 
God.  Summon  this  doctrine  to  your  aid,  not  merely 
when  the  weightier  class  of  calamities  oppress  you ;  but 
amidst  the  perturbations  of  ordinary  life,  the  coUisions 
of  business,  the  perplexities  of  the  household,  the  muta- 
tions of  health  and  spirits,  nay  the  clouds  of  the  sky, 
which  too  often  carry  darkness  into  the  windows  of  the 
shrinking  and  sensitive  soul.  The  very  moods  which 
make  our  wheels  drag  slowly  through  the  daily  task, 
the  tempers  of  those  around  us,  the  petty  disappoint- 
ment and  chagrin,  the  sHght,  the  cross,  the  look  of  un- 
kindness  and  the  silence  of  rebuke — all  are  dispensed 
in  season  and  in  love.  Happy  is  the  soul  which,  having 
secured  an  interest  in  providence  by  securing  accept- 
ance in  Christ,  can  roll  its  burden  on  the  Lord  and  lie 
down  secure  amidst  the  tempest,  because  its  Father  is 
at  the  helm. 


IV. 


THE   INCARNATION 


THE   mCAENATION  * 


1  TmoTHT  iii.  16. 
"  Grod  was  manifest  in  the  flesh." 

"  The  Catholic  faith  is  this,  that  we  worship  one 
God  in  Trinity  and  Trinity  in  Unity;  neither  confound- 
ing the  persons,  nor  dividing  the  substance." 

"  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Father,  is 
God  and  man ;  God  of  the  substance  of  the  Father, 
begotten  before, the  world;  and  Man  of  the  substance 
of  his  mother,  bom  in  the  world.  Perfect  God  and 
perfect  Man ;  of  a  reasonable  soul,  and  human  flesh  sub- 
sisting ;  equal  to  the  Father  as  touching  his  Godhead, 
and  inferior  to  the  Father  as  touching  his  manhood. 
Who,  although  he  be  God  and  Man,  yet  he  is  not  two, 
but  one  Christ." 

*  New  York,  February  11, 1849. 


94  THE  INCAENATION. 

These  are  formulas  whicli  some  will  not  pronomice, 
wlio  nevertheless  vamit  their  behef  of  "  God  in  Christ." 
Our  present  task  is  not  to  prove  or  even  to  illustrate  the 
Incarnation,  but  only  to  look  at  one  of  its  aspects,  to 
wit,  the  manifesting  of  God.  In  plainer  terms,  the 
question  is,  How  God's  becoming  man  brings  God 
any  nearer  to  our  understandings  and  our  hearts.  And 
in  this  inquiry  we  shall  be  led  to  the  result,  that  by  the 
humanity  of  Christ  the  Divine  Nature  is  brought  more 
within  the  reach  of  our  understanding  and  our  affections. 
But  as  these  two  branches  of  the  subject  are  large  and 
distinct,  they  may  be  properly  treated  in  succession. 
Accordingly,  our  first  topic  is  this,  that  by  the  Incarna- 
tion God  is  brought  near  to  our  understanding ;  and 
the  second,  that,  by  the  Incarnation,  God  is  brought 
near  to  our  affections. 

I.  By  the  Incarnation,  God  is  brought  near  to  our 
understanding.  We  know  more  of  God,  by  this  means, 
than  we  could  ever  have  known  without  it.  We  are 
no  more  able  than  before  to  grasp  the  infinite,  or  com- 
prehend the  incomprehensible,  or  peasiire  the  immense, 
or  see  the  invisible ;  yet  these  divine  and  unapproach- 
able perfections  are  brought  into  such  connections  with 
humanity  as  to  furnish  us  with  some  steps  by  which  to 
climb  up  towards  the  height  of  these  glories ;  to  acquire 
some  ideas,  though  inadequate,  of  what  would  otherwise 
entirely  elude  our  research.  All  creatures  together 
could  not  by  searcMng  find  out  God,  yet  one  may 


THE  INCARNATION.  95 

know  more  than  another ;  and  many,  more  at  one  time 
than  at  another ;  angels  more  than  men ;  saints  more  than 
sinners ;  and  every  behever  much  that  he  could  not  have 
discovered  without  this  gracious  intervention.  Look 
at  it  as  we  may,  there  is  a  wonderful  mystery  in  God's 
willing  to  be  known  of  creatures.  The  whole  creation 
is  fruit  of  such  a  will.  God  might  have  spent  eternity 
in  blissful  sHence,  in  the  all-satisfying  glory  of  his  own 
perfections.  But  his  infinite  benevolence  chose  to  im- 
part this  excellence,  which  is  what  we  mean  by  God's 
declarative  glory  or  his  glorifying  himself.  This  is 
the  key  to  all  the  successive  manifestations  of  God, 
and  especially  of  the  creative  manifestation.  In  the 
work  of  the  six  days,  including  all  the  beauties  and 
utilities  of  the  earth  and  all  the  regulated  immensities 
of  heaven,  Jehovah  was  only  giving  us  a  sparkle  of  his 
grandeur ;  and  when  we  now  look  at  the  heavens  and 
the  earth  in  their  vast  generahty,  or,  taking  any  one 
particular,  as  an  insect  or  a  leaf,  descend  into  its  in- 
finitesimal minuteness  of  detail,  we  are  studying  just 
so  much  of  God.  The  common  expression  is  just, 
we  read  the  Book  of  Nature.  But  no  external  mani- 
festations could  ever  bring  us  to  the  chief  of  what  we 
need  to  know  of  God,  his  moral  perfections,  his  mercy 
and  his  love ;  and  God  had  regard  to  this,  in  making 
man.  I  do  not  mean  merely  that  it  was  necessary  to 
make  a  rational  creature,  in  order  to  see  and  know 
God's  glory,  which  is  true  indeed ;  but  over  and  above 
this,  that  the  creature,  thus  rational,  should  be  so  made 


96  THE  mCARNATION. 

as  to  have  within  himself  some  facilities  for  knowing  his 
Creator ;  some  analogy,  some  resemblance  to  him,  some 
ray  of  Godhead  which  might  guide  him  back ;  some 
image  and  likeness  of  the  Invisible ;  and  therefore  in 
this  image  and  likeness  was  he  made.  If  man  had 
been  made  without  this  conformity,  I  do  not  see  how 
he  could  ever  have  come  to  any  understanding  of  the 
Divine  perfections.  Unless  man  were  intellectual  he 
could  have  no  notion  of  God  as  truth ;  unless  man  had 
conscience,  he  could  have  no  notion  of  God  as  righteous- 
ness ;  unless  man  had  volition,  he  could  have  no  notion 
of  God  as  power ;  and  unless  man  had  affections,  he 
could  have  no  notion  of  God  as  love.  But  because  he 
is  made  in  God's  image  in  these  respects,  he  is  able  to 
gain  glimpses  of  the  Divine  attributes,  of  which  he  gets 
the  best  ideas  when  he  removes  all  limits  from  his  own 
powers,  and  conceives  them  as  enlarged  to  infinity. 
!For  example,  if  a  being  were  found,  with  intellect, 
memory,  will,  and  affections,  but  with  no  moral  faculty, 
we  could  never,  even  by  centuries  of  reasoning,  convey 
to  such  a  being  the  slightest  notion  of  virtue  or  holiness, 
or  of  God  as  morally  pure  or  holy.  And  there  is  no 
absurdity  in  supposing  that  there  are  in  God  a  thousand 
perfections,  of  which  the  very  kind  is  unknown  to  us, 
because,  among  all  endowments,  we  have  none  even 
generically  resembling  these  perfections.  Lower  ani- 
mals, possessed  of  but  one  sense  or  of  but  two,  can  by 
no  possibility  arrive  at  the  sensations  of  higher  senses ; 
no  absolutely  bhnd  man  can  conceive  of  colour,  or  deaf 


THE  INCARNATION.  gy 

man  of  sound.  There  are  animals  probably  which  pos- 
sess senses  unknown  to  us ;  and  among  higher  created 
spirits  there  are  angels  who  possibly  have  faculties  of 
mind  as  inconceivable  to  us  as  colours  to  the  blind. 
But  what  shaU  we  say  of  Divinity  ?  AU  comparison  is 
lost  in  the  boundless  glory !  Yet  immeasurably  as  God 
transcends  our  powers,  he  has  placed  in  us  certain 
germs  of  resemblance,  whereby  we  may  come  to  know 
him ;  and  this  was  gloriously  true  of  man  in  his  primi- 
tive integrity.  But  why,  you  wiU  be  ready  to  say,  does 
the  preacher  go  back  to  the  original  creation  of  man, 
when  the  subject  is,  the  manifestation  of  God  by  Jesus 
Christ?  Por  this  reason,  brethren,  that  the  original 
man  was  the  first  Adam,  and  that  Christ  is  the  second 
Adam ;  for  this  additional  reason,  that  in  the  wonderful 
paraUehsm  between  the  first  and  the  second,  there  is  a 
common  element  of  humanity  in  both,  by  means  of 
which,  as  hke  to  God,  man  is  able  to  come  nearer  to 
God,  than  would  have  been  possible  otherwise.  Just 
as  the  image  of  God  in  Adam  placed  him  in  a  situation 
to  know  his  Divine  exemplar,  just  as  in  humanity  we 
see  somewhat  of  divinity,  so  in  the  perfect  and  more 
glorious  humanity  of  Christ  we  are  enabled  to  know 
more  of  God  than  by  all  other  means,  even  when  we 
consider  it  as  mere  humanity ;  but  infinitely  more  when 
we  consider  it  as  the  containing  tabernacle  of  the  God- 
head. For,  be  it  ever  remembered,  we  are  not  to  hold 
that  the  only  divinity  revealed  in  Christ  is  his  godhke 
humanity ;  but  that  this  humanity,  thus  like  God,  and 
7 


98  THE  mCARNATION. 

more  like  God/ than  that  of  the  first  Adam,  affords  a 
vehicle  for  divine  communications,  and  a  channel  for 
divine  revelations,  infinitely  suitable  and  complete, 
when  the  Godhead  becomes  one  with  the  manhood. 
Here,  therefore,  is  an  analogy  between  the  first  and  the 
second  Adam,  which  might  otherwise  escape  us.  An 
additional  reason  for  the  communication  by  Christ  is 
found  in  the  dreadful  fact,  that  since  the  fall  man  has 
in  a  great  degree  lost  this  image  of  God,  though  cer- 
tain broken  traces  undoubtedly  remain,  so  as  to  form 
the  basis  of  further  knowledge. 

Let  us  proceed,  then,  to  the  appUcation  of  these 
principles  to  the  case  of  the  second  Adam.  We  at 
once  perceive  his  infinite  superiority  to  the  first.  Even 
in  Christ's  humanity,  the  divine  image  shines  with  a 
splendour  unknown  in  paradise.  "  The  first  man  is  of 
the  earth,  earthy;  the  second  man  is  the  Lord  from 
heaven."  The  wisdom,  power  and  holiness  of  Adam 
were  unimpaired,  but  limited.  They  did  not  attain 
even  that  mark  which  they  would  have  reached,  if  the 
covenant  had  been  so  fulfilled  as  that  Adam  should 
have  been  confirmed  in  perpetual  indefectible  goodness. 
For  Adam,  though  erect,  was  not  established  -,  though 
not  an  infant,  in  Eden,  as  Socinianizing  divines  teach, 
he  was  but  infantile  as  compared  with  the  Lord  from 
heaven.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  possessed  of 
glorious  perfections,  even  in  his  humanity,  altogether 
unknown  to  our  first  progenitor.  He  was  the  me- 
dium of  conveying  divine  wisdom.     The  Spirit  was 


THE  INCARNATION.  gg 

given  him  without  measure:  He  was  not  only  sinless, 
but  insusceptible  of  sin,  and  thus  immeasurably  sub- 
lime. Though  we  cannot  comprehend  the  union  of 
the  ever-present  Deity  with  the  man  Christ  Jesus, 
yet  we  perceive  at  once  that  it  must  have  exalted 
every  power ;  and  that,  while  humanity  was  still  hu- 
manity, and  there  was  no  confounding  of  the  two 
natures,  the  human  was  all  glorified  by  the  indwell- 
ing of  the  divine,  even  as  a  globe  of  crystal,  by  an 
internal  fire,  is  made  all  light.  Nor  can  we  think  of 
the  infinite  God  as  united  personally  to  a  manhood 
which  was  other  than  sublime.  O,  my  brethren,  what 
marvels  dwell  within  that  Son  of  man !  Even  as  the 
tabernacle  in  the  wildemess  was  a  homely  structure, 
without  presenting  a  rugged  covering  of  the  skins  of 
beasts,  but  within  was  radiant  with  gold,  and  inhabited 
by  the  visible  glory,  between  the  cherubim  above  the 
ark,  so  under  that  body  which  was  worn  with  weariness 
and  pain,  and  within  that  face  which  was  "marred 
more  than  any  man,"  there  abode  the  subUmated  glory 
of  humanity,  in  a  divinely-sustained  knowledge,  hoh- 
ness  and  power.  Sometimes  these  rays  shot  forth. 
"  We  beheld  his  glory ;  the  glory  of  the  Only-Begotten 
of  the  Father."  In  authority  over  tempests  and  evil 
spirits ;  in  power  to  heal ;  in  creative  miracles ;  in 
searching  of  the  heart ;  in  amazing  endurance,  forgive- 
ness and  love ;  we  behold  more  of  God  than  all  the 
universe  beside  reveals  ;  and  the  point  is,  that  it  is  re-  , 
vealed  to  man  by  man.     Perhaps  you  inquire,  how 


100  THE  INCARNATION. 

this  is  a  revelation  of  divinity,  since  the  subject  of  these 
excellencies  was  truly  man  ?  How  can  the  excellencies 
of  a  man,  however  exalted,  show  ns  the  excellency  of 
God  ?  My  dear  brethren,  this  is  a  hard  question,  and 
there  are  difficulties  in  it  which  I  should  dread  even 
to  approach;  yet  we  may  coast  around  a  continent 
which  we  dare  not  penetrate  and  cannot  survey ;  and 
there  are  some  fixed  points  here,  where  we  may  take 
our  position  amidst  a  sea  of  uncertainty.  This  is  more 
remarkably  true  of  the  moral  perfections  of  God.  In 
respect  to  these  I  would  offer  two  remarks,  intended  to 
show  that  the  revelation  of  the  excellency  in  Christ  Jesus 
is  a  revelation  of  God. 

1.  Virtue  and  holiness,  with  lowly  reverence  be  it 
spoken,  is  the  same  in  God  as  in  man.  Virtue  is  not 
simply  a  relation  of  temporal  things,  but  an  eternal 
quality ;  because  it  is  a  quality  of  the  Eternal  God. 
His  command  of  virtue  does  not  derive  its  excellence 
from  God's  mere  power  or  arbitrary  order,  but  from  his 
eternal  nature.  God  is  himself  the  foundation  of  virtue. 
Could  we  beheve  the  grovelling  doctrine  of  expediency, 
or  that  there  is  nothing  in  virtue  but  its  tendency  to 
produce  happiness,  we  might  think  otherwise.  But 
then  we  might  also  believe  that  the  highest  happiness 
of  God  and  the  aggregate  happiness  of  the  universe, 
require  our  vice  and  misery.  No,  my  beloved  hearers, 
it  is  a  fixed  point,  equally  in  morals  and  divinity,  that 
holiness  in  God,  though  infinitely  removed  above  hoH- 
ness  in  man,  is  still  one  and  the  same  holiness.     The 


THE  INCARNATION.  ]^q| 

truth  of  God,  the  righteousness  of  God,  the  mercy  of 
God,  and  the  love  of  God,  are  not  dijfferent  qualities 
called  by  the  same  names,  but  the  same  quahties  ex- 
isting in  their  highest  power.  So  that  when,  in  the 
God-man,  Jesus  Christ,  we  observe  the  beautiful  and 
touching  manifestation  of  feehngs,  habits  and  volitions, 
residing  in  a  human  subject  indeed,  but  in  a  human 
subject  personally  one  with  the  divine,  we  are  really 
beholding  the  very  excellencies  which  reside  ia  God. 
And  by  this  means  we  are  brought  higher  in  the  scale' 
of  morals  and  nearer  to  a  contemplation  of  divine  hoH- 
ness,  than  would  be  possible  by  any  or  by  all  other 
means.  In  every  word,  act  and  gesture  of  Jesus  Christ, 
we  see  the  invisible  Godhead  breaking  forth. 

2.  Although  the  nature  in  which  obedience  was 
rendered  is  the  human  nature,  yet  it  is  human  nature 
IQ  such  union  with  the  divine,  that  the  two  constitute 
but  one  Person ;  and  this  adorable  Person  is  divine. 
Therefore  the  moral  states  and  acts  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  even  when  proceeding  from  a  human  will,  are 
nevertheless,  so  far  as  we  are  concerned,  the  moral 
states  and  acts  of  God.  To  which  we  must  add,  that 
the  human  and  the  divine  will,  though  not  confounded, 
as  though  there  were  a  divine  agent  iu  a  new  human 
form,  are  in  perfect  consonance ;  there  is  no  diversity, 
or  struggle.  In  this  sense  it  is  but  one  and  the  same 
Will ;  and  thus  the  revelation  of  excellency  in  Christ 
Jesus  is  a  revelation  of  God. 

In  contemplatiag  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ,  we 


102  THE  INCARNATION. 

observe  one  class  of  virtues,  which  you  will  join  me  in 
regarding  as  most  affecting,  and  most  fully  showing  the 
need  of  an  Incarnation.  These  are  the  suffering  virtues ; 
or  those  which  are  evolved  under  trial  and  pain.  The 
first  Adam,  remaining  sinless,  would  have  remained  as 
painless  as  God  himself.  There  would  never  have  been 
a  sigh  or  a  tear  in  Eden  or  in  Heaven.  But  after  the 
introduction  of  sin  into  our  world,  a  new  class  of  affec- 
tions entered ;  and  sin  has  been,  by  God's  mighty  wis- 
dom, wrested  against  its  own  nature,  to  show  forth  the 
loveliest  aspect  of  the  Redeemer's  glory.  "  For  it  be- 
came him,"  says  the  apostle, "  for  whom  are  all  things,  and 
by  whom  are  all  things,  in  bringing  many  sons  unto 
glory,  to  make  the  Captain  of  their  salvation  perfect 
through  suffering."  *  Dear  Christian  brethren,  could 
we  allow  ourselves  to  be  robbed  of  these  dehghtful, 
heart-affecting  shades,  in  the  picture  of  our  Lord's  Hfe, 
or  could  they  have  existed  without  an  Incarnation? 
These  tender,  gentle  excellencies  of  Christ,  are  so  nume- 
rous that  they  fill  your  memories  of  his  ministry.  His 
lowliness,  his  meekness,  his  fortitude,  his  fear,  his  grief, 
his  patience,  his  pity,  his  forgiveness.  "Which  of  these 
Hneam'ents  would  you  dash  out  of  the  picture  ?  See  him 
among  the  sick  and  suffering;  at  the  house  of  Peter, 
the  gate  of  Nain,  the  plains  where  he  fed  thousands,  the 
bereaved  dweUing,  and  the  grave  of  Lazarus.  See  him 
weary  at  the  well.  See  him  not  having  where  to  lay  his 
head.     See  him  in  the  upper  chamber  among  the  twelve. 

*  Heb.  ii.  10. 


THE  INCARNATION.  1Q3 

See  him  in  the  garden,  at  his  trial,  and  on  the  cross. 
Observe  the  benignant,  yet  sorrowing  \drtues  and 
graces  of  these  hours,  marked  with  tears  and  blood,  and 
say,  even  though  they  tell  of  human  weakness,  which  of 
these  would  you  rehnquish  ?  Yet,  none  of  them  could 
have  been  manifested  to  us,  unless  because  "  the  Word 
became  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us."  And,  on  the  prin- 
ciple already  laid  down,  these  excellencies  are  not  merely 
human  but  divine.  The  glory  of  the  godhead  shines 
out,  not  only  in  the  raising  of  the  dead,  and  the  pardon 
of  sins,  but  in  the  tears  and  sighs  of  compassion,  and  in 
the  unexampled  cry,  "  Not  my  will,  but  thine  be  done." 
We  may  therefore  affirm  with  confidence,  that  all  the 
human  character  of  Christ,  as  shown  in  his  ministry  on 
earth,  is  really  a  bright  disclosure  of  the  character  of 
God,  such  as  could  be  made  only  by  the  Incarnation. 

But  the  mention  just  made  of  suiBPering,  leads  us 
most  naturally  to  consider  the  summing-up  of  those  suf- 
ferings in  the  Cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the 
manifestation  of  God  in  that  complication  of  agonies. 
By  the  Cross,  I  mean  here  the  whole  series  of  events  in 
the  close  of  Christ's  ministry  as  a  sujfferer ;  his  "  Cross 
and  Passion,"  as  going  to  make  up  one  oblation.  And 
let  it  be  specially  noted  that  we  are  not  now  surveying 
this,  in  its  primary  intention,  as  a  sacrifice  to  satisfy 
divine  justice,  but  in  its  character  of  a  manifestation  of 
God  in  the  flesh ;  such  a  manifestation,  moreover,  as 
could  be  made  only  in  the  flesh,  or  by  the  assmnption  of 
humanity.     The  Son  of  God  looked  steadily  to  this  one 


104  THE  INCARNATION. 

termination.  In  eteraal  covenant  he  devoted  himself  to 
manhood  and  the  curse.  In  his  own  divine  intention  he 
was  "  the  Lamb  slain,  from  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world.''  All  the  lines  of  type  and  prophecy  are  seen  to 
converge  on  this  one  point.  When  he  became  a  human 
being,  every  step  was  towards  this  consummation.  And 
at  this  accursed  tree,  as  at  a  focal  point,  all  the  mani- 
festations of  God  concentre  with  a  burning  effulgence. 
It  is  often  said,  and  nothing  was  ever  said  more  truly, 
that  all  the  divine  attributes  harmonize  in  the  plan  of 
redemption,  and  therefore  in  the  death  of  Christ.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  show  this  by  a  formal  and  laboured 
catalogue  of  these  perfections.  They  are  all  there,  as 
the  hues  are  aU  in  the  rainbow ;  but  they  are  there  as 
constituting  a  single  luminous  ray.  All  there  is  of 
God  seems  to  pour  down  on  that  spot  of  earth ;  and 
the  channel  by  which  it  is  conveyed  is  indicated  by 
these  words,  "  God  is  Love."  There,  in  that  bleeding 
spectacle,  all  that  we  behold  is  in  one  sense  humanity  ; 
in  another,  it  is  godhead. 

• 
"  Here  his  whole  name  appears  complete ; 
Nor  wit  can  guess,  nor  reason  prove, 
Which  of  the  letters  best  is  writ, 
The  power,  the  wisdom,  or  the  love. 

Here  I  behold  his  inmost  heart, 
Where  grace  and  vengeance  strangely  join, 
Piercing  his  Son  with  sharpest  smart, 
To  make  the  purchas'd  pleasures  mine." 


THE  mCARNATIOK  ]^Q5 

The  Christianity  of  all  ages  has  beheld  in  the  human 
sufferings  of  a  Divine  Person,  a  manifestation  not  so 
much  of  man  as  of  God.  That  one  thing  which  was 
wanting  in  the  first  Adam,  namely,  suffering,  is  here 
prominently  set  forth.  This  sight  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  nearest  view  we  can  ever  have  of  God.  His  unap- 
proachable glories  forever  elude  our  search,  and  even 
though  in  pursuit  we  fly  on  the  wings  of  the  morning, 
we  behold  the  radiant  throne  forever  flying  before  us ; 
but  in  the  wounds  of  Christ,  and  in  his  dying  counte- 
nance, we  read  the  great  lesson  of  manifested  divinity. 
The  Word  was  made  flesh ;  called  the  Word,  as  being 
the  Revealer,  and  in  this  dying  scene,  revealing  more 
than  in  all  ages  previous :  "  to  make  all  men  see  what  is 
the  fellowship  of  the  mystery,  which,  from  the  beginning 
of  the  world,  has  been  hid  in  God."  Hence,  Eph.  iii. 
19,  to  "  know  the  love  of  Christ,"  is  to  "  be  filled  vdth 
all  the  ftJness  of  God." 

The  Son  of  God,  then,  by  becoming  incarnate,  has 
made  a  manifestation  of  the  Godhead,  more  complete 
than  the  universe  has  ever  knovm.  It  is  not  merely,  as 
even  Unitarians  and  Deists  may  beheve,  that  a  certain 
good  man,  called  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  has  taught  more 
clear,  and  full,  and  accurate  doctrines  concerning  God. 
This  is  true,  but  infinitely  more  is  true.  This  Jesas  of 
Nazareth,  very  God  and  very  man,  possessing  the  two 
natures  in  one  indivisible  divine  person,  has,  in  human 
guise,  and  with  a  human  body  and  soul,  so  hved,  so 
spoken,  so  felt,  so  acted,  and  so  suffered,  as  to  reveal 


106  THE  INCARNATION. 

the  divinity  througli  the  manhood,  as  it  was  never  re- 
vealed before ;  and  so  as  to  present  those  attributes 
vrhich  were  otherwise  invisible  and  remote,  in  near,  pal- 
pable action.  Henceforth,  it  is  not  merely  Truth,  Wis- 
dom, Power,  and  Love,  in  distant  abstractions,  but  In- 
carnate Truth,  and  Wisdom,  and  Power,  and  Love. 
Suppose,  my  brethren,  that  we  were  to  remove  out  of  the 
Scriptures  all  that  knowledge  of  God,  which  has  come 
to  us  through  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  what  would  be 
left !  How  would  our  Christianity  be  shorn  of  its 
brightest  rays  !  No ;  when  we  would  behold  divinity, 
we  look  for  the  light  of  his  glory  as  it  shines  in  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  him  dweUeth  all  the  fulness 
of  the  Godhead,  bodily.  So  he  taught  his  disciples 
that  the  sight  of  himseK  was  the  sight  of  God.  "  Have 
I  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not 
known  me,  Philip  ?  he  that  hath  seen  me,  hath  seen  the 
Father;  and  how  sayest  thou,  then.  Show  us  the 
Pather?"  John  the  Baptist  knew  this,  and  testified  it  in 
his  last  recorded  speech.  His  morning-star  "  paled  its 
ineffectual  fires  "  before  the  rising  sun.  "  He  that  cometh 
from  heaven,"  said  he,  "  is  above  all ;  and  what  he  hath 
seen  and  heard,  that  he  testifieth."  All  the  time  that 
Christ  was  upon  earth,  he  did  not  cease  to  be  in  heaven 
with  God.  "  No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time  ;  the 
Only  Begotten  Son,  who  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father, 
he  hath  declared  him."  Hence,  the  Apostle  John,  in 
language  otherwise  unintelligible,  speaks  of  the  Word  of 
God,  as  if  subjected  to  the  scrutiny  of  the  senses,  1  John, 


THE  INCARNATION.  ]^qw 

i.  1 ;  "  which  was  from  the  beginning,  which  we  have 
heard,  which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  which  we 
have  looked  upon,  and  our  hands  have  handled  of  the 
Word  of  life."  It  is  Christ  who  is  the  great  Re- 
vealer,  even  to  our  understandings ;  and  no  man  cometh 
unto  the  Father,  even  intellectually,  but  by  Him.  He 
is  not  simply  the  Teacher;  he  is  the  Word.  He  is 
God  himself  in  revelation.  And,  as  incarnate,  he  is 
God  in  the  flesh  :  the  mirror,  the  luminous  manifester 
of  God;  the  "brightness,"  or  radiant  effulgence,  or 
outshining  of  his  glory,  the  express  image,  or  sealed 
character  of  his  subsistence. 

Remembering  that  it  does  not  become  us  to  in- 
trude into  those  things  which  we  have  not  seen,  we 
must  not  undertake  to  say  by  what  methods  God  will 
reveal  himself  to  us  in  the  future  world.  We  know 
that  Christ  will  still  be  Immanuel,  God  with  us.  We 
know  that  he  will  still  bear  our  nature,  forever,  in 
heaven.  We  know  that  the  absolute  perfections  of  the 
Godhead  will  never  cease  to  be  inaccessible.  We  know 
that  our  Redeemer  will  still  possess  that  same  love 
which  has  led  him  to  make  all  previous  manifestations. 
We  know  that  our  own  human  nature  shall  then  be 
brought  unspeakably  nearer  to  the  human  nature  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  than  it  has  ever  been  on  earth ;  since 
it  will  be  freed  from  all  sin  and  imperfection;  and 
since  we  can  scarcely  form  ideas  too  high  of  what  the 
Lord  shall  confer  on  our  souls,  when  he  shall  change  even 
"  our  vile  body,  that  it  may  be  fashioned  hke  unto  his 


208  '^^^  INCARNATION. 

glorious  body,  according  to  the  working  whereby  he  is 
able  even  to  subdue  all  things  unto  himself."  Phil.  iii.  21. 
And  hence,  it  is  surely  within  the  modesty  of  Christian 
conjecture,  that  when  our  humanity  shall  be  brought  so 
much  nearer  the  glorified  humanity  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  we  shall  enjoy  communications  from  his  divine 
nature,  proportionably  surpassing  all  that  has  fallen  to 
our  lot  here. 

In  this  world,  therefore,  and  in  the  other,  we  know 
more  of  God,  by  the  Incarnation,  than  we  could  ever 
have  known  without  it ;  and  this  is  the  first  point  to  be 
estabhshed. 

11.  By  the  Incarnation,  God  is  brought  near  to 
our  Affections.  This,  my  brethren,  is  a  part  of  the 
subject  which  involves  less  of  theological  argument,  but 
which  comes  home  more  nearly  to  our  hearts.  Religion 
dwells  much  in  the  affections,  and  all  intellectual  views 
are  important  as  tending  towards  emotion  and  action. 
Stoical  philosophy  tried  in  vain  to  expel  human  pas- 
sions. Our  very  hfe  is  made  up  of  them,  and  so  far  as 
we  succeed  in  banishing  them,  we  reduce  existence  to  a 
condition  such  as  that  the  world  would  be,  if  all  colour 
were  removed  from  the  objects  of  nature.  But,  thanks 
be  to  God,  it  is  in  a  very  small  degree  that  we  are  ca- 
pable of  destroying  sensibility.  Though,  by  so  doing, 
we  prevent  some  pain,  we  still  more  certainly  prevent 
aU  pleasure ;  and  God  has  wisely  constituted  us  so  as  to 
fear,  to  hope,  to  desire,  to  love,  to  rejoice  and  to  grieve. 


THE  INCARNATION.  ^QQ 

Who  is  there  that  needs  to  be  instructed  in  the  power 
of  human  domestic  aflPections?  These  it  is,  which 
make  the  charm  of  home.  A  hundred  pictures  rise  to 
your  mind,  the  more  dehghtful,  because  they  are  the 
product  rather  of  memory  than  imagination.  There  are 
some  things  of  which  fancy  may  brighten  the  hues,  and 
which  may  be  loveher  in  fiction  than  in  real  Hfe ;  but  it 
is  not  so  with  the  affections  of  warm  hearts.  The  at- 
tempt would  be 

"  To  gild  refined  gold,  to  paint  the  lily, 
"  To  throw  a  perfume  on  the  violet." 

The  love  of  parent  to  child,  of  children  to  parents,  and 
the  conjugal  affections  from  which  these  spring,  are  be- 
yond description.  Dwell  a  moment  on  that  which  was 
first  named.  See  the  young  mother,  hanging  over  her 
babe,  with  a  new  and  overmastering  affection,  which 
has  changed  her  within  a  few  short  months  from  the 
buoyant  maiden,  swimming  in  the  dance  of  pleasure  and 
admiration,  to  be  the  doting,  fearing,  indefatigable, 
watching  parent,  whose  whole  soul  is  treasured  up  in 
that  cradle,  and  who  hves  a  new  life  in  this  experience, 
which  no  one  could  have  described  to  her,  and  which 
she  cannot  hope  to  make  credible  save  by  those  who 
have  borne  the  same  burden.  Suppose  affliction  and 
illness  should  come,  there  is  bitterness  infused  into  the 
cup  ;  but  the  passion  has  not  lost  its  strength.  What 
picture  is  more  lovely  or  more  famihar  than  that  of  two 
parents  gazing  upon  the  Httle  ones  whom  they  have 


1X0  THE  INCARNATION. 

consigned  to  sleep,  as  the  unconscious  objects  of  their 
love  lie  locked  in  each  other's  arms?  And  often  have- 
we  been  called  to  see  the  same  affection  chnging  to  the 
languishing  and  dying  child,  and  hanging  over  the  dead ; 
a  faithful  watch-lamp  among  the  tombs.  Nor  are  these 
the  only  instances  of  strong  attachments :  I  trust  there 
is  not  one  within  the  sound  of  my  voice,  who  is  not 
himself  the  subject  or  the  object  of  such  love,  which 
goes  beyond  the  lines  of  bloody  and  dignifies  the  field 
of  sacred  Mendship.  Think  not,  my  hearers,  that  I 
have  alluded  to  these  acknowledged  evidences  of  feehng 
for  purposes  of  embelhshment  or  entertainment.  They 
serve  another  and  more  important  end;  they  bring 
strongly  before  your  minds  the  great  part  which  is  oc- 
cupied by  the  affections,  and  remind  you  how  much  the 
happiness  of  life  is  dependent  on  them.  Staunch  the 
well-spring  of  love,  and  what  is  left  of  existence  that 
would  be  worth  saving  ?  We  might  have  intelligence, 
purpose,  and  animal  appetite,  but  we  could  have  no  ele- 
vation, and  no  happiness.  No,  my  brethren ;  next  to 
the  love  of  himself,  God  has  given  us  nothing  better 
than  the  love  of  one  another,  as  it  flows  forth  in  all  the 
mutual  relations  of  society.  But,  lest  you  think  I  wan- 
der from  my  topic,  let  me  hasten  to  trace  out  the  con- 
nexion of  what  has  been  said,  with  the  loftier  topic 
which  engages  us.  I  have  instanced  in  a  single  afiec- 
tion,  that  of  love ;  but  while  brevity  demanded  this,  I 
would  beg  you  to  observe,  that  most  of  what  has  been 
offered,  has  equal  apphcation  to  such  other  emotions  as 


THE  INCARNATION.  m 

may  terminate  on  a  good  object.  We  are  now  tliere- 
fore  prepared  to  remark,  that  God  has  brought  our 
feehngs  within  the  circle  of  rehgion ;  and  this  in  two 
respects.  He  has  sanctified  these  affections  by  his 
grace.  He  has  turned  these  instincts  into  duties  ;  and 
has  made  feelings  which  are  dehghtful  in  themselves 
part  of  our  tribute  to  himself.  He  has,  with  his  own 
finger,  inscribed  on  the  second  table  of  the  Law,  the 
household  names  of  husband,  wife,  father,  mother, 
son,  daughter,  servant,  and  neighbour,  and  thus  made 
them  sacred.  He  has  proposed  to  us  to  receive  pay- 
ment of  duty  in  the  shape  of  affections  and  their  fruits, 
which  are  themselves  a  reward.  He  has  enlarged  the 
circle  so  as  to  take  in  aU  mankind ;  and  has  said  of  good 
bestowed  on  the  suffering,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  to 
the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  did  it  unto  me." 
Christianity  has  seized  upon  these  natural  affections,  and 
enlarged,  purified,  refined,  and  sanctified  them.  The 
theme  is  inviting ;  but  I  must  go  on  to  state  a  second 
respect,  in  which  God  has  brought  our  affections  within 
the  circle  of  rehgion;  for  He  has,  wonderful  to  de- 
clare, permitted  these  affections  to  terminate  on  him- 
self. This  is  more  amazing  than  at  first  appears. 
God  suffers  creatures,  lately  condemned  for  their  sins, 
to  look  up  to  him  with  hope,  desire,  pious  sorrow,  joy, 
and  love.  That  we  can  thus  feel  toward  fellow-crea- 
tures, we  know ;  we  experience  it  every  day,  to  om*  so- 
lace, relief  and  enjoyment ;  but  towards  God !  how  is  it 
possible  ?     Surely  the  thought  were  impious.    Jehovah 


112  THE  mCAKNATION. 

is  too  high  to  be  reached  by  such  affections  as  ours  ; 
and  such  a  flight  were  too  daring  and  presumptuous. 
Enough  were  it  for  us  to  stand  at  the  foot  of  Sinai,  and 
look  upwards  to  the  distant  Majesty,  with  another  class 
of  emotions,  with  reverence,  dread,  admiring  awe,  and 
solemn  fear.  Sufficient  were  it  for  sinners  to  know  that 
God  will  not  consume  them  with  a  blaze  of  his  wrath. 
And  such  indeed  are  the  views  engendered  by  the 
Law.  It  can  go  no  further.  But  ye  are  not  come 
to  the  mount  that  might  be  touched,  and  that  burned 
fire,  nor  unto  blackness,  and  darkness,  and  tempest, 
and  the  sound  of  a  trumpet,  and  the  voice  of  words ; 
but  ye  are  come  unto  Mount  Zion,  unto  the  city 
of  the  living  God.  The  whole  relation  is  so  changed, 
that  we  approach  no  longer  as  servants,  but  as  sons, 
and  are  permitted  to  pour  into  the  bosom  of  God 
the  very  same  affections  which  we  bestow  on  beloved 
human  creatures,  only  with  a  greatness  of  volume  in 
the  tide,  such  as  could  not  reasonably  end  on  any 
thing  finite.  God,  in  infinite  condescension,  permits 
us  to  look  on  him  with  a  genuine  and  personal  affec- 
tion. And  it  is  this  which  brings  the  whole  matter 
clearly  within  the  scope  of  the  present  argument ;  since 
our  proposal  is  to  show  that  by  the  Incarnation,  God  is 
brought  sufficiently  near  to  be  the  object  of  these  af- 
fections. We  have  seen  how  the  same  glorious  event 
brought  the  divine  perfections  within  the  range  of  our 
.  mental  vision ;  but  to  stop  there,  would  be  but  the  half 
of  rehgion.     It  is  not  the  cold  contemplation  of  certain 


THE  INCARNATION.  ]^23 

attributes,  even  though  divine,  vrhich  accomphshes  our 
work.  The  first  and  chiefest  commandment,  yea,  the 
sum  of  all,  is  Thou  shalt  love.  But  who  can  love  a 
metaphysical  abstraction ;  even  when  named  by  the 
name  of  God  ?  Who  can  draw  nigh  to  a  Deity  so  ab- 
struse and  distant  ?  No  contemplation  of  the  glories 
of  nature  can  do  more  than  excite  admiration,  and  per^ 
haps  a  modified  thankfulness,  of  the  vaguest  and  coldest 
sort.  It  is  the  Gospel  which  brings  God  nigh.  We 
do  not  deny  that  in  the  Old  Testament  there  are  many 
representations  of  God  as  a  Father,  and  many  views  of 
his  character,  as  long-sufiering  and  of  tender  mercy,  and 
forgiving  transgression,  such  as  awaken  tender  emotions 
towards  him.  But  all  these  are  so  many  anticipations 
of  the  Christian  era ;  Christ,  my  brethren,  is  in  the  Old 
Testament  as  well  as  in  the  New.  His  name  was  on 
every  altar,  laver,  pillar,  vail,  and  censer,  on  all  the 
golden  imagery,  and  aU  the  cunning  work  of  the  taber- 
nacle; but  it  was  there  in  hieroglyphic  device  and 
cipher,  such  as  required  a  key,  and  a  practised  eye ;  and 
these  were  read  backwards  by  the  legalists  of  Israel, 
for  want  of  the  knowledge  of  Christianity.  When  the 
Messiah  came,  he  found  them  with  this  law  in  their 
hands,  yet  devoid  of  aU  generous,  melting,  loving  affec- 
tions towards  God.  A  yoke  of  galling,  intolerable  for- 
malism lay  on  the  necks  of  the  whole  people.  The 
general  aspect  of  the  Old  Testament  unquestionably 
wears  a  frown,  not  in  its  real  intention,  but  as  appre-# 
hended  by  those  whose  hearts  were  veiled  as  to  its  real 
8 


114  THE  INCARNATION. 

• 

meaning.  The  doctrine  of  the  New  Testament  was 
needed  to  expound  the  Old.  All  which  is  strikingly 
confirmed,  when  we  survey  the  condition  of  the  modem 
Jews,  in  their  rejection  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Their 
service  is  slavish.  With  the  Old  Testament  in  their 
hands,  and  read  daily  in  their  synagogues,  they  never- 
theless approach  God  with  attempts  at  a  hard  routine  of 
ceremonies,  which  neither  they  nor  their  fathers  were 
able  to  bear.  The  grand  defect  in  all  their  services, 
and  which  they  have  no  means  of  supplying,  is  the 
want  of  spiritual  fihal  love.  The  total  absence  of  this 
among  the  heathen,  is  a  striking  fact  in  their  history. 
Even  while  their  poets  say,  "  Por  we  are  also  His  off- 
spring ;"  none  of  their  books  make  any  part  of  rehgion 
consist  in  affectionate  regard  for  their  deities,  even  the 
chief.  No  moral  duties  are  referred  to  any  attachment 
to  the  gods,  as  their  motive ;  no  law  says.  Thou  shalt 
love  Jupiter  or  Neptune,  or  all  the  gods,  or  any  of 
them.  Whereas,  when  we  turn  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment, or  even  to  the  Old  as  explained  by  the  New,  we 
observe  this  exercise  of  the  affections  on  every  page. 
And  wherever  true  religion  enters  a  soul,  it  works  as 
strongly  as  do  the  natural  impulses  within  us  towards  a 
beloved  circle. .  The  believer  looks  on  God  with  as  real 
and  as  personal  affection,  as  on  his  children,  or  his 
parent,  though  with  a  purer  and  higher  flame.  He  is 
not  content  with  the  impersonal  Deity  of  the  philoso- 
pher ;  the  mere  power  of  Nature,  or  Soul  of  the  Uni- 
verse, which 


THE  INCARNATION.  ]^]^5 

"  Warms  in  the  sun,  refreslies  in  the  breeze, 
"  Glows  in  the  stars,  and  blossoms  in  the  trees, 
"  Lives  through  all  life,  extends  through  all  extent, 
"  Spreads  undivided,  operates  unspent." 

Though  these  words  may  be  taken  in  a  good  sense,  the  • 

behever  craves  more  than  this.  He  asks  for  a  personal 
God,  to  whom  his  soul,  as  an  individual  person,  may 
come.  My  brethren,  I  am  uttering  what  may  seem 
a  truism;  but  the  age  demands  clear  views  on  this 
point.  The  giant  heresy  of  the  age  is  that  which  makes 
the  Universe  God.  Many  years  ago,  the  greatest  fe- 
male mind  of  the  day  said,  "  The  pubUc  secret  of  Ger- 
many is  Pantheism."  That  which  began  in  Germany 
has  spread  over  Prance  and  surrounding  countries,  and 
has  appeared  among  ourselves,  in  the  extravagant  teach- 
ings of  the  transcendental  infidelity.  And  there  is  a 
dreadful  tendency  in  such  opinions  to  gravitate  from  the 
schools  of  philosophy  downward  to  the  masses,  in  the 
grosser  form  of  downright  Atheism.  These  opinions 
have  mingled  themselves  to  a  large  extent  with  the  po- 
Htical  revolutions  of  the  continent.  Let  me  cite  one  of 
the  latest  indications :  At  one  of  the  great  conventions 
in  Germany,  lately  held,  the  Hessian  delegate,  Professor 
Vogt,  used  the  following  language :  "  I  am  for  the  sep- 
aration of  Church  and  State ;  but  only  on  condition 
that  what  is  called  the  Church  be  annihilated.  The 
National  Assembly  must  recognise  a  church  of  unbe- 
lief.    The  time  has  come,  when  a  man  may  have  per- 


116  THE  INCARNATIOK 

mission  in  Germany  to  be  an  Atheist."  *  Sucli  are  the 
tendencies  of  modern  philosophy ;  and  they  spread  more 
widely  than  is  thought;  among  professed,  and  even 
among  real  Christians,  their  taint  is  felt ;  and,  where 
they  cannot  destroy  faith,  they  succeed  in  disturbing  it. 
Thus,  a  celebrated  Christian  author  of  Prussia  said  to 
a  friend  of  mine :  "  O,  that  I  had  your  views  of  God ! 
O,  that  I  could  say  thou  to  him,  as  to  a  personal  God ! " 
My  brethren,  the  behever  can  approach  his  God  as  a  per- 
son, and  with  a  real,  personal,  individual  affection,  as 
when  a  man  comes  to  a  friend  or  father.  But  in  order 
to  this,  there  must  be  that  approach  through  a  Me- 
diator, which  is  our  principal  subject.  When  Luther 
said,  "  I  cannot  have  an  absolute  God,"  Nolo  Deum 
absolutum,  he  expressed  a  great  fundamental  truth.  As 
he  meant  it,  the  doctrine  is,  that  as  a  God  of  Justice, 
Jehovah  cannot  be  approached  by  sinners,  save  through 
a  propitiation.  But  it  is  true  in  another  sense:  we 
cannot  come  to  God  with  a  tender,  bursting,  filial  affec- 
tion, until  we  behold  him  manifested  in  the  Son.  He 
is  distant,  towering,  abstract ;  the  object  of  awful  dread, 
and  marvelling  admiration,  but  not  of  confiding  attach- 
ment. God  must  be  brought  nigher.  Those  attributes 
of  heavenly  fearfalness  must  be  translated  into  the  lan- 
guage of  the  heart.  The  immaterial  and  evanescent 
perfections  must  be  presented  in  some  tangible  form. 
In  the  former  division,  we  saw  the  provision  made  for 

*  KirchenfreuncI,  Feb.  1849. 


THE  INCARNATION  ]^17 

this,  in  regard  to  the  intellect ;  the  same  provision  is 
equally  available  in  regard  to  the  heart.  "  God  was 
manifest  in  the  flesh ;  "  manifest  first  to  the  understand- 
ing, which  we  have  considered ;  and,  secondly,  to  the 
affections.  The  problem  being,  Plow  is  human  love  to 
such  a  being  as  God  possible  ?  the  answer  is.  We  love 
God  by  loving  Christ.  In  these  simple  words  is  con- 
tained a  lesson  of  religious  experience  which  would,  if 
properly  acted  upon,  change  our  whole  life.  It  is  by 
faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  we  behold  that  as- 
pect of  God,  which  awakens  tender  affection.  No  man 
cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by  him.  Till  this  faith 
arises  within  us,  God  is  seen  far  off,  in  clouds  of  angry 
justice.  Faith  manifests  him  as  full  of  love,  and  ready 
to  pardon  and  adopt ;  and  aU  this  through  Jesus 
Christ. 

But  here  the  question  presents  itself,  whether  we 
may  encourage  our  affections  to  go  forth  to  Christ,  as  to 
a  personal  object  of  love.  This  does  not  seem  difficult 
to  one  who  has  in  memory  the  New  Testament  narra- 
tive. In  those  scenes,  Jesus  moved  among  his  crea- 
tures as  a  man,  and  was  the  object  of  tender  and  gen- 
erous affections,  which  are  recorded  in  the  book,  and 
are  reproduced  in  ourselves  while  we  read.  Is  there 
any  believer  who  reads  the  four  gospels,  who  does  not 
feel  his  heart  going  forth  perpetually  and  increasingly 
toward  the  individual  character  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ?  He 
who  knows  nothing  of  this,  in  my  judgment,  knows 
nothing  yet  as  he  ought  to  know.     It  is  a  sympathy 


118  THE  mOARNATION. 

with  those  who  surrounded  the  Son  of  God  when  he 
"  was  manifest  in  the  flesh."  In  that  narrative,  if  any- 
where, he  is  "  altogether  lovely."  The  eye  singles  him 
out  from  among  all  the  scriptural  characters,  as  he 
walks  by  the  sea  of  Galilee ;  as  he  opens  his  hps  upon 
the  Mount ;  as  he  heals,  and  feeds,  and  comforts ;  as 
he  fasts,  and  prays,  and  sighs  ;  as  he  prepares  the  disci- 
ples for  his  departure ;  and  as  he  finally  dies  upon  the 
cross.  It  is  this  "historical  Christ,"  a  term  used  in 
contempt  by  Strauss,  and  his  imitators  in  America, 
whom  we  love ;  even  after  his  resurrection,  when  he  ap- 
pears to  Mary,  to  Cleopas,  to  the  Apostles,  and  when 
he  is  caught  up  from  among  them  into  heaven.  Now, 
we  have  only  to  reflect,  that  though  in  heaven,  he  is  un- 
changed, "Jesus  Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day, 
and  forever,"  to  satisfy  us,  that  as  truly  as  he  was  loved 
by  disciples  on  earth,  so  truly  he  may  be  loved  by  us ; 
and  this,  not  with  a  vague  approval  or  admiration  of 
abstract  virtues,  but  with  a  strong  and  moving  individ- 
ual affection.  And  this  is  not  contradictory  to  the  spirit 
of  Paul's  words,  2  Cor.  v.  16  :  "  Yea,  though  we  have 
known  Christ  after  the  flesh,  yet  now  henceforth  know 
we  him  no  more  /'  for  here  the  apostle  means  to  con- 
demn and  repudiate  his  former  carnal  expectation  of 
Messiah,  as  a  temporal  prince.  In  this  very  connexion, 
Paul  is  so  far  from  condemning  a  spiritual  affection  of 
the  Redeemer,  that  he  exclaims ;  "  Whether  we  be  be- 
side ourselves  it  is  to  God ;"  that  is,  "  if  as  our  enemies 
say,  we  are  transported  out  of  ourselves  by  enthusiasm. 


THE  INCARNATION. 


119 


SO  as  to  seem  deranged,  let  them  know  we  are  animated 
by  a  zeal  for  God ;  for  the  love  of  Christ  constraineth 
us ;"  or,  as  the  word  means,  '  bears  us  away  like  a 
strong  and  resistless  torrent.'  It  is  therefore  possible 
and  lawful  to  look  on  the  person  of  our  Redeemer  with 
a  strong  individual  regard ;  loving  him  for  every  bright 
virtue,  and  gentle  word,  and  beneficent  act  of  his  hu- 
man pilgrimage ;  and  ascribing  to  him  the  same  excel- 
lencies, now  that  he  has  ascended  into  heaven.  And 
experience  testifies  that  this  love  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  as  true  and  distinct  an  emotion,  in  the  Chris- 
tian's mind,  as  any  which  he  cherishes  towards  children 
or  fi-iends.  But  here  the  question  meets  us,  How,  or  in 
what  sense  is  this  the  loving  of  God  ?  How  are  we 
hereby  brought  any  nearer  to  the  Great  Supreme  ?  In 
replying  briefly  to  this,  I  must  recall  to  your  mind 
what  has  been  said  under  another  head.  That  which 
we  love  in  Jesus  Christ,  is  not  his  exterior  form,  of 
which  the  Scriptures  wisely  give  us  no  details ;  but  the 
lineaments  of  his  spiritual  nature  ;  the  moral  features ; 
the  virtues  and  graces  of  his  inner  life ;  his  humility, 
faith,  devotion,  gentleness,  meekness,  longsuffering,  for- 
titude, courage,  benevolence,  and  truth.  These  inter- 
nal beauties  are  manifested  by  his  words,  his  works,  and 
his  sufierings.  The  whole  Gospel  narrative  is  a  record 
of  them,  and  as  we  read,  we  love.  We  muse  upon  them 
when  the  book  is  laid  down,  as  we  do  over  the  letter  of 
our  dearest  friend ;  nay,  we  must  open  it  once  again, 
and  look  at  the  very  words.     The  picture  is  formed  in 


120  T^^  INCARNATION. 

our  mind,  and  rises  before  us,  as  that  of  a  distant  hus- 
band to  the  affectionate  wife ;  but  it  is  a  moral  image, 
and  the  sum  of  the  traits  is  hohness.  Now,  these  spir- 
itual attractions,  though  manifested  to  us  through  a  hu- 
man soul,  are  nevertheless  divine;  because  Divinity 
shines  through  that  manhood.  The  Godhead,  yea,  the 
whole  undivided  Godhead,  has  its  union  there  with  hu- 
man nature.  Nowhere  else  in  the  universe  is  so  much 
of  God  presented  for  our  adoration,  as  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  With  every  thought,  emotion,  and  volition  of 
that  holy  human  spirit,  there  is  a  present  and  consent- 
ing hohness  of  the  Divine  Nature.  These  virtues  and 
graces  have  two  sides  :  one  toward  us,  and  one  toward 
heaven.  Toward  us,  all  that  our  eyes  behold,  is  human ; 
toward  heaven,  is  the  equal  and  coincident  will  of  di- 
vinity. Not  only  so :  while  Christ  Jesus,  as  a  man,  is 
manifesting  toward  us  these  perfections  and  attractions, 
he  is  one  with  God.  Though  there  are  two  natures, 
there  is  but  one  person :  the  glorious  person  who  is 
named  Christ.  The  constitution  of  this  adorable  Per- 
son, was  for  the  very  purpose  of  manifesting  God.  As 
has  been  fully  said,  we  behold  more  of  God  in  the  face 
of  Christ,  than  elsewhere  in  all  the  universe.  Is  not  the 
question  answered,  then  ?  When  we  love  Christ,  we 
love  God.  We  cannot  in  any  way  so  intelligently  love 
God,  as  when  we  love  Christ.  And  therefore,  we  need 
not  be  afraid  to  let  our  thoughts  and  powers  go  out 
with  all  their  fulness  toward  the  Son ;  we  need  not  be 
apprehensive  lest  we  defraud  the  Father  of  his  glory. 


THE  mCAKNATIOlir.  221 

Christ  is  God,  in  human  manifestation.  The  Word 
was  made  flesh.  God  is  incarnate,  and  as  incarnate  is 
made  onrs  :  the  Only  Begotten  Son,  who  is  in  the  bo- 
som of  the  Pather,  He  hath  revealed  him.  The  reverse 
method  is  not  so  safe.  There  are  some  who  are  full  of 
high  expressions  towards  God,  in  general,  but  who  make 
little  of  Christ.  Having  not  come  by  the  only  way, 
such  persons  have  no  true  apprehensions  of  God. 
"  Whosoever  beheveth  that  Jesus  is  the  Clirist,  is  bom 
of  God;  and  every  one  that  loveth  him  that  begat, 
loveth  him  also  that  is  begotten  of  him.''  "  He  that 
hath  the  Son,  hath  life ;  and  he  that  hath  not  the  Son, 
hath  not  life."  This  is  a  great  mystery  to  the  world ; 
but  it  is  understood  by  the  people  of  God.  It  is  indeed 
the  great  principle  of  Christianity.  But  it  never  could 
have  entered  into  human  minds  to  conceive  it.  How  new 
and  impossible  to  be  foreseen !  This  is  the  reason  it  is 
called  a  mystery,  that,  having  long  been  hidden,  it  is 
now  made  known.  How  influential !  Religious  views 
are  no  longer  cold  and  inoperative.  They  are  brought 
within  the  circle  of  our  heart-affections.  The  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  so  to  speak,  sits  by  our  fireside.  All  our 
natural  emotions  are  brought  in  as  auxiliaries  to  our  love 
of  Christ ;  and  in  loving  him,  we  are  performing  our 
great  duty  to  God.  And  then  how  delightful !  Here 
it  is,  in  the  love  of  Christ,  that  the  chief  happiness  of 
religion  consists.  Loving  God  is  no  longer  an  impossi- 
bility or  an  abstraction.  We  are  bound  to  him  by  ties 
of  humanity,  as  by  the  "  bonds  of  a  man  ;*'  for,  "  we 


222  THE  INCARNATION. 

are  members  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh,  and  of  his 
bones." 

"The  great  proof  that  this  view  is  correct,  is  derived 
from  an  inspection  of  the  New  Testament ;  for  there  we 
see  it  to  be  the  view  of  the  early  Christians.  If,  on 
looking  at  these  records,  we  had  found  it  to  be  other- 
wise ;  if,  for  example,  we  had  found,  either  that  the 
Redeemer  was  spoken  of  as  one  to  whom  no  tribute  of 
affection  could  properly  be  paid,  because  he  is  only  a 
deceased  man;  or,  that  the  Son  of  God  is  too  highly 
exalted,  and  too  far  removed,  for  us  to  visit  him  with 
our  affection ;  then,  indeed,  we  should  have  had  good 
cause  to  reject  all  the  doctrine  which  has  been  proposed. 
But  this  doctrine  meets  full  confirmation  in  primitive 
experience.  "  Our  fellowship,"  says  the  Apostle  John, 
"  is  with  the  Father,  and  with  his  Son  Jesus  Christ." 
"  Whom,  having  not  seen,"  says  Peter,  "  ye  love."  He 
addresses  himself  to  the  body  of  Christians  in  many 
countries ;  it  was  the  common  experience  of  the  age. 
They  loved  the  unseen  Christ.  They  looked  for  "  that 
blessed  hope  and  the  glorious  appearing  of  the  great 
God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  And  it  was  so 
radical  a  distinction  between  the  Christian  and  the 
world,  that  Paul,  in  his  zeal,  declares,  "  If  any  man 
love  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  let  Mm  be  anathema 
maranatha."  And  after  apostohc  days,  this  personal 
love  to  the  Lord  Jesus  was  the  characteristic  of  disci- 
ples. The  expression  of  the  martyr  Ignatius  is  cele- 
brated, in  its  Latin  version :  Amor  meus  crucifixus 


THE  INCAKNATION.  ]^23 

EST !  I  must  go  further,  my  brethren,  and  say,  that 
this  is  the  great  lesson  of  evangehcal  Christianity. 
Wherever  vital  piety  decays,  this  decays.  It  takes  its 
flight  long  before  the  alteration  of  creeds  or  the  denial 
of  doctrines ;  for  there  may  be  an  age  of  cold  ortho- 
doxy unenhvened  by  one  beam  of  love  to  the  Redeemer. 
But  when  this  affection  has  fled,  sound  doctrine  soon 
prepares  to  spread  its  wings  likewise.  For  a  time 
there  may  be  accurate  metaphysical  discussion,  contro- 
versy about  tenets,  and  even  persecution  for  differences. 
But  by  degrees  the  Cross  is  thrust  into  a  corner ;  and 
at  length  the  propitiatory  work  of  Christ  is  extenuated 
or  forgotten.  The  Atonement  being  tarnished  or  ex- 
ploded, the  Godhead  of  Christ  is  soon  found  to  be 
superfluous.  There  is  no  need  of  a  divine  Redeemer 
under  that  easy  system  of  Hberal  Christianity  in  which 
every  man  is  his  own  saviour.  This  may  account  for 
the  known  fact,  that  among  those  who  reject  the  Trin- 
ity, small  account  is  made  of  personal  love  towards  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  too  frequent  allusion  to  his 
double  nature  and  to  his  redeeming  blood  becomes 
offensive,  and  the  people  are  in  a  fair  way  to  forget 
that  there  ever  were  such  spots  as  Gethsemane  or 
Golgotha.  Whereas,  in  direct  opposition  to  this,  when- 
ever vital  piety  revives,  there  is  a  marked  revival  of  love 
to  Jesus  Christ.  It  was  so  at  the  Reformation,  and  it 
will  be  more  gloriously  so  in  the  centuries  of  Hght 
which  are  to  come.  Wherever  a  genuine  convert  is 
made  from  heathenism,  his  heart  is  expanded  with  a 


I24i  THE  INOAKNATION. 

new  affection,  love  to  the  crucified  Redeemer.  In 
their  best  moments,  Christians  of  every  age  and  country- 
have  risen  in  love  to  God  manifest  in  the  flesh.  This 
is  witnessed  by  the  thousands  of  hymns  and  spiritual 
songs  in  which  Christian  affection  has  poured  itself 
forth  in  all  the  languages  of  Christendom.  We  need  not 
except  the  Greek  and  Latin  hymns  of  the  early  church, 
before  the  rise  of  papacy :  some  of  which  have  provi- 
dentially been  retained  even  among  many  corruptions. 
The  lyric  effusion  of  some  favoured  moment  of  un- 
wonted transport  in  an  individual  saint,  being  consigned 
to  the  care  of  poetry  and  music,  thus  became  part  of 
the  worship  of  the  whole  church.  At  the  Reformation, 
songs  in  an  unknown  tongue  were  suddenly  exchanged 
for  those  in  the  vulgar  tongues,  and  thousands  of  hymns 
to  Christ  burst  forth  over  Gennany,  Switzerland,  Hol- 
land, France,  and  Britain.  The  piety  thus  reviving 
continued  from  century  to  century,  and  for  the  same 
object.  So  far  from  shunning  the  death  of  the  Lord,  it 
was  Christ  on  the  cross  that,  above  all  things,  attracted 
their  hearts,  because  it  was  here  that  most  was  seen  of 
God  manifest  in  the  flesh.  How  many  a  night  of 
afiliction  has  been  brightened  by  this  vision!  How 
many  a  dying  Up  has  made  the  name  of  Jesus  its  last 
articulation ! 


V. 


THE   WORLDLING. 


THE  WORLDLINa  * 


PniLippiAirs  iii.  19. 


"  Who  mind  earthly  things." 


The  pencil  of  inspiration,  by  one  rapid  sweep,  often 
depicts  a  whole  class  of  human  souls.  In  the  present 
instance,  the  view  given  of  ungodly  men,  in  a  single 
fearful  aspect,  is  important  enough  to  be  severed  from 
its  most  interesting  context,  and  made  the  object  of  our 
profound  consideration.  The  apostle,  with  deep  Chris- 
tian feehng,  is  here  describing  the  people  of  the  world. 
He  closes  this  description  with  the  hint  which  I  have 
selected.  It  is  the  portrait  of  all  unrenewed  persons, 
however  widely  they  may  differ  in  other  respects.  They 
mind  earthly  things.  The  word  is  peculiar  in  its  force ; 
they   set  their  minds  upon  earthly  things,  think  of 

*  New  York,  October  8, 1852. 


22-8  THE  WORLDLING. 

them,  think  much  of  them,  yea,  constantly  and  su- 
premely. Earthly  things,  and  not  heavenly,  fill  their 
minds  and  occupy  their  regard  and  affections.  And 
this  charge,  which  to  careless,  unenhghtened  souls  may 
seem  quite  a  trifling  one,  is  so  grave  in  Paul's  estima- 
tion, that  it  moves  him  to  tears,  and  he  weeps  while  he 
writes.  It  is  this  minding  of  earthly  things,  as  charac- 
teristic of  unbelieving  men,  which  we  are  about  briefly 
to  consider. 

Readers  of  the  Scriptures  have  observed  that  two 
great  opposing  spheres  are  often  held  up  to  view ;  one 
as  engaging  the  hearts  of  the  ungodly  and  one  of  the 
godly.  They  are  the  earth  and  heaven,  verses  19,  20, 
this  world  and  the  world  to  come  ;  things  visible  and 
things  invisible  ;  the  present  and  the  future ;  the  world 
and  Christ;  Mammon  and  God.  All  these  are  the 
same  in  substance ;  and  the  contrast  or  opposition  is 
complete  and  irreconcilable.  According  to  these  two 
sets  of  objects,  or  two  worlds  as  we  may  call  them,  the 
whole  race  of  men  is  divided  into  two  portions ;  the 
World,  an  expressive  term  for  all  that  is  opposed  to  God 
and  the  Church,  or  people  of  the  Hving  God. 

It  may  as  clearly  be  presumed  that  the  noble  crea- 
ture whom  we  call  man,  was  not  made  to  spend  his 
powers  on  passing  sublunary  things,  as  that  he  was  not 
made  to  browse  with  the  ox  or  grovel  with  the  serpent. 
A  consideration  of  his  powers  shows  that  he  was  des- 
tined for  eternity  and  for  God.  Revelation  has  for  its 
great  end  to  set  before  him  the  objects  which  are  suited 


THE  WORLDLING.  229 

to  these  capacities.  Their  residence  in  the  present  Hfe 
is  a  period  of  grace,  in  which  men  under  the  gospel  are 
invited  to  rise  from  earthly  towards  heavenly  things ; 
and  it  is  the  principal  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  invite, 
wm  and  attract  men  to  the  pursuit  and  enjoyment  of 
spiritual  realities. 

Notwithstanding  which,  we  have  before  us  the  con- 
tinual spectacle  of  the  majority  of  mankind  worshipping 
the  creature,  forgetting  God,  and  hving  for  the  present 
fleeting  hour.  For  them,  heaven  and  hell,  the  law  and 
its  satisfaction,  eternity  and  God,  are  as  though  they 
were  not ;  sending  forth  no  moulding  influence.  For 
them,  the  present  world  is  heaven  enough,  if  they  could 
only  make  it  sure ;  and  they  would  rejoice  in  a  decree, 
which  should  fix  their  abode  here  forever.  Let  us  look 
a  Httle  more  closely  at  this  side  of  our  conunon  human 
nature. 

It  requires  but  a  glance  at  the  busy  crowds  around 
us  to  perceive  that  the  great  things  of  the  soul  and  of 
eternity  do  not  absorb  their  chief  interest.  Whether 
you  judge  them  by  their  words  or  their  company,  by 
what  they  do  or  leave  undone,  you  find  them  to  be  "  of 
the  earth,  earthy."  This  is  the  more  striking,  when  you 
contrast  with  it  their  high-wrought  zeal  in  all  that  con- 
cerns the  present  life.  When  personal  honour  and  ap- 
plause or  family  distinction  are  in  view,  no  labour  seems 
too  great ;  and  under  the  goad  of  fashionable  rivalry, 
they  expend  language,  time,  and  even  thousands  of 
money,  which  proves  too  well  how  much  they  are  in 
9 


130  THE  WORLDLING. 

earnest.  In  this  race  they  will  suffer  none  to  leave 
them  behind ;  and  we  have  lived  to  see  high  professors 
in  the  church,  whose  manner  of  household  life,  equipage, 
and  entertainments,  leave  us  marveUing  what  those 
pomps  and  vanities  of  the  world  can  be,  which  they 
have  renounced  as  followers  of  Christ,  or  where  we  are 
to  look  for  cross-bearing,  godly  simplicity,  and  self- 
denial.  Our  Lord  certainly  had  a  meaning  when  he  set 
forth  the  imminent  peril  to  the  soul,  which  comes  from 
worldly  riches ;  and  I  suppose  the  wealth  against  which 
he  warned  his  followers,  was  less  than  that  of  many  who 
hear  me,  but  who  feel  no  danger.  The  way  in  which 
worldly  possessions  jeopard  the  soul,  is  by  occupying 
the  affections,  leading  the  heart  away  from  God  and 
divine  things,  to  take  its  contentment  in  the  good  things 
of  this  life.  This  is  serving  Mammon ;  making  a  god 
of  present  things ;  giving  the  supreme  regard  to  that 
which  is  perishing ;  and  it  is  declared  to  be  inconsistent 
with  the  love  of  God.  The  minister  of  the  gospel,  as 
one  '*  who  must  give  account,"  must  not  shun  to  exhibit 
this  danger  to  those  who  are  possessed  of  worldly 
goods.  Whether  they  will  hear  or  forbear,  his  com- 
mission is  explicit :  "  Charge  them  that  are  rich  in  this 
world,  that  they  be  not  high-minded,  nor  trust  in  un- 
certain riches,  but  in  the  living  God,  who  giveth  us 
richly  all  things  to  enjoy."  The  trusting  in  riches, 
here  intended,  is  the  setting  of  the  mind  on  them  as  the 
source  of  comfort ;  making  them  a  staff  and  stay ;  re- 
lying on  them,  as  a  provision  against  trouble ;  indulging 


THE  WORLDLING.  ][3]^ 

a  secret  complacency  in  them,  as  making  us  better 
than  others,  who  have  lost  them  or  have  never  attained 
them ;  and  flattering  ourselves  at  the  supposed  security 
of  om^  own  acquisitions,  as  compared  with  the  precarious 
fortunes  of  others.  Those  who  so  Hve,  whether  in  the 
church  or  out  of  it,  are  minding  earthly  things  and 
estranging  their  hearts  from  the  Hving  God,  who  giveth 
us  all  things  richly  to  enjoy. 

But  it  would  be  unwise  to  limit  our  view  of  the 
earthliness  of  worldly  riches  to  the  use  which  is  made 
of  them  while  actually  possessed.  A  large  part  of  the 
human  family  is  engaged  in  the  hot  pursuit ;  some 
with  success,  and  many  more  with  disappointment. 
This  variety  in  the  result  makes  no  difference,  however, 
in  the  temper  of  mind  with  which  the  seeming  goal  is 
sought.  We  need  only  open  our  eyes,  at  mid- day,  in 
any  great  commercial  city,  to  learn  that  this  is  the  prime 
mover  in  all  the  complex  and  indescribable  commotion 
of  human  business.  Mistake  me  not;  I  am  not  de- 
nouncing activity  in  business,  or  even  the  pursuit  of 
wealth,  simply  considered.  As  a  chief  instrument  of 
happiness  in  this  life,  it  may  be  sought  in  different  de- 
grees and  from  different  motives ;  moderately  or  im- 
moderately ;  selfishly  or  benevolently ;  with  an  entire 
absorption  in  the  creature,  or  with  an  hourly  reference 
of  all  to  God.  But  I  will  affirm,  and  none  will  soberly 
deny  it,  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  multitude,  the 
majority,  the  mass  of  men  thus  engaged  day  and  night 
with  impetuous,  feverish,  often  delirious  haste,  are  actu- 


232  ^^^  WORLDLING. 

ated  by  no  impulses  but  those  which  spring  from  the 
creature,  and  thus  that  they  mind  earthly  things.  This 
is  what  they  live  for ;  for  this  they  make  their  sacri- 
fices and  run  their  risks.  This  occupies  their  thoughts, 
at  rising,  and  as  they  hurry  through  the  great  emporium, 
at  desks  and  places  of  trade,  in  the  retirement  of  the 
evening  and  the  intervals  of  night.  It  is  this  which 
excludes  prayer,  meditation,  the  Scriptures,  the  care  of 
the  soul,  the  seekuig  of  Christ's  kingdom  and  righteous- 
ness. The  desire  is  not  quenched  by  successes.  No 
philosopher  has  discovered  the  point  at  which  insatiable 
avarice  can  consent  to  admit  that  it  is  rich  enough. 
We  know  of  no  principle  recognised  by  the  world  on  this 
point,  but  this,  that  every  man  must  be  as  rich  as  he 
can.  Great  accumulations  do  but  stimulate  the  appe- 
tite for  more,  and  the  close  of  life,  instead  of  being  de- 
voted to  quiet  preparation  for  death  and  eternity,  is 
frequently  harassed  by  more  vexing  cares  of  acquisition 
than  its  youthful  dawn.  The  point  of  the  charge  is^ 
that  God  is  shut  out.  For  this  no  reasonable  and  im- 
mortal creature  can  frame  an  apology.  He  drives  a 
hazardous  bargain  who  barters  away  his  opportunity  of 
salvation.  "  For  what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange 
for  his  soul ! "  Yet  look  abroad,  and  behold  the  face 
of  society.  The  broad  and  thronged  avenue  is  filled 
with  human  beings,  rushing  towards  the  gates  of  death, 
all  engrossed  in  that  which  perishes  even  while  it  is 
obtained.  We  need  no  longer  wonder  that  the  church 
dwindles,  and  that  few  are  added  to  the  company  of 


1^ 


THE  WORLDLING.  ^33 

God's  people.  There  is  a  contagion  in  the  evil,  and 
every  day  fresh  thousands  yield  themselves  to  the  same 
impulse.  Unless  God  break  the  spell,  unless  he  seize 
upon  them  by  the  strong  hand  of  the  Spirit,  these  de- 
luded beings  will  die  as  they  have  lived,  and,  plunging 
into  a  state  whither  they  can  carry  no  earthly  gains, 
will  learn  by  experience  what  it  is  to  gain  the  world 
and  lose  their  own  souls. 

The  brief  description  of  the  text  includes  the  lovers 
of  pleasure.  Either  in  ihe  pauses  of  business,  or  as 
their  whole  employment,  great  numbers  of  persons 
spend  their  time  in  seeking  amusement,  recreation,  the 
satisfying  of  curiosity,  appetite  or  passion.  This  host 
includes  most  who  are  in  youth,  but  many  also  who 
tread  on  the  confines  of  age.  It  needs  no  laboured  ar- 
gument to  show  that  these  mind  earthly  things.  They 
are  living  as  though  they  had  no  souls.  They  are  lovers 
of  pleasure  more  than  lovers  of  God.  It  is  common  to 
speak  of  such  as  amiable  and  good-natured,  or  as  in- 
juring none  but  themselves.  But  no  persons  are  more 
intensely  selfish,  than  the  confirmed  devotees  of  pleasure. 
Their  motto  is.  Who  will  show  us  any  good  ?  What 
shall  we  eat,  and  what  shall  we  drink,  and  wherewithal 
shall  we  be  clothed  ?  There  are  none  more  bound  to 
the  earth.  There  is  no  temper  more  incompatible  with 
religion,  or  with  the  serious  pursuit  of  it.  Hence  the 
reiterated  injunctions  of  our  Lord  to  those  who  would 
follow  him,  to  leave  all,  to  deny  themselves,  and  to  take 
up  the  cross  daily.   Hence  also  the  striking  admonitory 


134  THE  WORLDLING. 

pictures  of  the  rich  man  clad  in  purple  and  fine  linen, 
and  faring  sumptuously  every  day ;  of  the  young  ruler, 
who  went  away  sorrowful ;  and  of  him  who  said  to  his 
soul,  "  Take  thine  ease ;  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry." 
The  entertainments  and  pleasures  of  an  easy  life  destroy 
tens  of  thousands,  who  nevertheless  never  fall  into  open 
and  flagrant  vices.  Satan's  end  is  sufficiently  gained, 
when,  by  immersing  them  in  thoughts  of  the  present 
world,  he  can  keep  them  away  from  all  consideration  of 
eternal  things. 

What  a  horrid  fraud  Satan  is  practising  on  the 
church,  in  regard  to  the  daughters  of  the  covenant ! 
In  fashionable  circles — dare  I  name  them  Christian — • 
the  years  where  girlhood  merges  into  maturity  are  fre- 
quently sold  to  the  adversary.  The  young  American 
woman  is  taught  to  deem  herself  a  goddess.  If  there  be 
wealth,  if  there  be  accomplishment,  if  there  be  beauty, 
almost  a  miracle  seems  necessary  to  prevent  the  loss  of 
the  soul.  Behold  her  pass  from  the  pedestal  to  the 
altar.  The  charming  victim  is  decked  for  sacrifice. 
Every  breath  that  comes  to  her  is  incense.  Her  very 
studies  are  to  fit  her  for  admiration.  Day  and  night 
the  gay  but  wretched  maiden  is  taught  to  think  of  self 
and  selfish  pleasures.  Till  some  Lenten  fashion  of 
solemnity  interrupt  the  whirl,  the  season  is  too  short 
for  the  engagements.  Grave  parents  shake  their  heads 
at  magnificent  apparel,  costly  gems,  night  turned  into 
day,  dances  at  which  Romans  would  have  blushed,  pale 
cheeks,  bending  frames,  threatened  decay ;  and  yet  they 


THE  WORLDUNG. 


135 


allow  and  submit.  And  thus  that  sex,  whicli  ought  to 
shew  the  sweet  unselfish  innocency  of  a  holy  youth,  is 
carried  to  the  overheated  temples  of  Pleasure.  Thus 
the  so-called  Christian  verifies  the  apostle's  maxim, 
"  She  that  hveth  in  pleasure  is  dead  while  she  hveth." 

But  it  is  needless  to  classify  worldlings.  Their 
number  is  so  great  that  we  can  scarcely  move  without 
encountering  them ;  and  it  is  well  if  we  do  not  find  our- 
selves infected  with  the  same  disease.  The  god  of  this 
world  has  brought  them  under  his  incantation,  by 
blinding  their  minds.  He  magnifies  to  their  apprehen- 
sions the  gains  and  exaltations  of  sensible  things ;  he 
colours  the  pleasures  of  life;  he  shuts  out  the  future, the 
spiritual  and  the  divine.  That  ardour  with  which  they 
nm  their  short  career,  would  be  worthy  of  a  better  ob- 
ject. Alas  for  them !  they  are  building  on  the  sea-sand, 
and  the  tempestuous  waves  will  soon  overwhelm  their 
confidence. 

Let  me  very  earnestly  put  it  to  the  mind  and  con- 
science of  every  hearer,  whether  he  belongs  to  this  class 
or  not.  The  Scriptures  divide  the  aggregate  of  aU  that 
the  human  soul  can  pursue  with  desire  into  two  great 
worlds,  the  earthly  and  the  heavenly.  Every  man  hving 
is  intent  on  one  or  the  other ;  and  no  man  can  attain 
both.  There  can  be  no  compromise.  Ye  cannot  serve 
God  and  Mammon.  Ye  cannot  mind  earthly  things, 
and  at  the  same  time  mind  heavenly  things.  If  any 
man  love  the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not  in  him. 
Nay,  he  that  loves  the  world  is  at  enmity  vnih  God. 


136  THE  WORLDLING. 

So  imich  is  at  stake,  that  you  cannot  be  too  earnest  in 
the  self-examination.  Here  you  may  bring  your  inward 
character  to  a  test.  Ask  not  whether  you  have  at  some 
former  period  been  admitted  to  the  external  church ; 
thousands  have  been  thus  admitted,  without  any  change 
of  nature.  But  ask,  which  of  these  two  worlds  has 
your  heart  ?  Are  you  Hving  under  the  power  of  the 
world  to  come  ?  Does  its  awful  shadow  fall  across 
your  path,  and  give  solemnity  to  your  purposes  ?  Do 
you  go  about  the  business  of  every  day  imder  the  deep 
impression  that  all  these  things  are  perishing,  that  this 
is  not  your  rest,  that  presently  God  your  Judge,  whose 
penetrating  eye  is  always  upon  you,  will  call  you  hence, 
to  give  an  account  of  the  deeds  done  in  the  body  ? 
Are  you  seeking  a  home  and  kingdom  which  cannot  be 
moved  ?  Is  your  treasure  laid  up  in  heaven,  and  is 
your  heart  there  ?  Do  you  look  for  your  choicest  grati- 
fications in  divine  things,  in  heavenly  truth,  and  in 
communion  with  God  ?  Are  you  jealous  of  every  thing, 
however  usual  or  valuable  among  men,  which  removes 
your  thoughts  from  the  great  invisible  world  in  which 
your  true  possessions  lie  ?  And  do  you  feel  yourself  a 
pilgrim,  who  can  enjoy  no  settled  and  satisfying  rest 
till  you  reach  a  world  from  which  sin  is  to  be  forever 
absent  ?  These  are  questions  which  admit  of  an  answer. 
Or,  on  the  other  hand,  are  your  thoughts  at  waking 
wholly  upon  the  things  of  time  and  earth?  Do  these 
things  occupy  your  most  active  endeavours  and  employ 
your  words  ?     Are  you  bent  with  all  your  energies  on 


THE  WORLDLING.  X37 

the  acquisition  or  preservation  of  gain,  pleasure,  ease, 
or  fame  ?  And  is  this  so  fully  your  turn  of  mind,  that 
you  seldom  pray,  or  seldom  with  any  engagement  of 
heart ;  seldom  think  of  God ;  seldom  meditate  on  the 
eternity  to  which  you  are  hastening ;  and  seldom  feel 
your  sins  to  be  such  a  burden  as  to  force  you  to  flee  to 
Christ  for  reHef?  Such  is  the  case  of  many,  of  most; 
and  if  it  be  yours,  then  know  assuredly  that  you  mind 
earthly  things. 

But  I  am  not  permitted  to  leave  you  with  the  bare 
conviction  that  this  is  your  state.  A  superficial  per- 
suasion of  this,  as  an  undoubted  fact,  has  often  come 
over  you,  without  producing  any  change  in  your  way  of 
life.  Consider  with  me,  I  pray  you,  the  quahty,  char- 
acter and  end  of  this  your  chosen  course. 

1.  To  mind  earthly  things,  as  the  great  paramount 
object,  is  degrading.  It  is  unworthy  of  an  immortal 
inteUigence.  You  were  made  for  better  things.  You 
were  no  more  framed  to  fill  your  boundless  capacities 
with  these  fleeting  vanities,  than  to  take  the  pleasure 
of  the  beast,  bird,  or  insect.  That  nature  of  yours 
was  once  in  the  image  of  God,  and  still  sighs  for  a 
restitution,  which,  through  grace,  is  attainable.  The 
course  you  pursue  beUes  and  repudiates  your  im- 
mortahty.  Your  animated  breathless  chase  of  these 
temporalities,  when  translated  into  its  true  import, 
speaks  thus  :  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we 
die."  You  are  prostitutiag  a  noble  instrument  to  an 
ignoble  use.     This  is  the  secret  cause  of  those  disgusts 


138  THE  WORLDLING. 

which  you  often  feel.  Earthly  things  have  not  done  for 
you  that  which  they  promised.  They  have  not  made 
you  happy ;  they  have  often  left  you  weary,  sated,  dis- 
appointed, and  smarting.  Some  of  your  earlier  pleasures 
have  abeady  lost  their  exquisite  zest.  Increase  of  years 
has  brought  weakness,  repining,  and  bitterness.  Accu- 
mulation of  worldly  goods  has  failed  to  give  you  com- 
fort in  proportion.  Nay,  if  you  will  own  the  mortifying 
truth,  you  are  less  tranquil  and  satisfied  than  in  former 
days.  Many  things  on  which  you  relied,  have  been 
taken  from  you,  and  for  many  that  remain  your  appe- 
tite has  died  away.  The  foam  of  your  brimming  cup 
has  been  blown  away,  and  you  are  endeavouring  to 
cheer  yourself  with  the  dregs.  Confess  it,  O  my  earthly 
hearer,  and  add  the  solemn  consideration,  that  you  are 
a  spiritual,  immortal,  and  accountable  being,  who  will 
before  long  be  hurried  into  the  presence  of  Eternal 
Judgment.  In  reference  to  this,  your  great  and  cer- 
tain destiny,  the  objects  which  interest  you  have  no 
weight,  except  to  condemn  you.  Having  lived  so  long, 
you  have  not  yet  begun  to  hve  in  view  of  your  endless 
existence ;  and  painful  as  is  the  charge,  it  is  nevertheless 
just,  that  your  whole  course  thus  far  has  been  such  as 
to  lower  the  true  dignity  of  your  nature,  as  one  of  God's 
immortal  creatures. 

2.  To  mind  earthly  things  involves  incalculable  loss. 
Men  are  prompt  to  avoid  losses  in  that  which  concerns 
worldly  possessions.  But  those  who  hve  altogether  for 
this  life,  lose  an  entire  class  of  pleasures  and  benefits. 


THE  WORLDLING.  Jgg 

To  them  one  avenue  of  happiuess,  and  that  the  greatest, 
is  closed.  The  higher  faculties  of  the  soul  are  unem- 
ployed. The  gifts  and  consolations  and  dehghts  of  re- 
ligion are  unknown  to  them.  Communion  with  God 
— a  wide,  expressive  term — ^is  all  a  mystery.  They 
lose  the  pleasures  of  holy  truth,  and  the  witness  of  a 
conscience  pacified  by  the  blood  of  Christ.  They  lose 
the  intercourse  of  faith  and  devotion  with  an  unseen 
world  and  a  benignant  Saviour  ;  the  calm,  hopeful  an- 
ticipation of  death ;  and  the  rapturous  contemplation  of 
glories  yet  in  reserve.  They  lose  the  sense  of  God's 
favour  and  the  consciousness  that  they  have  entered  on 
a  progress  of  disciphne  and  improvement  which  shall 
never  end.  In  a  word,  they  lose  all  that  we  mean  by 
religion. 

To  some  of  you,  my  hearers,  this  seems  no  great 
loss.  So  wedded  are  you  to  the  world,  your  idol,  that 
you  can  look  for  happiness  to  no  other  source;  no,  not 
even  to  God.  Yet  I  am  bound  to  protest  to  you,  that 
Wisdom's  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness ;  and  that  you 
forsake  them  to  your  infinite  loss. 

3.  Hear  me  yet  further,  when  I  solemnly  declare  to 
you,  that  to  mind  earthly  things  is  to  incur  fearful 
guilt.  It  is  sinful.  It  is  contrary  to  God's  holy  will, 
and  to  his  express  commandment.  It  is  wounding  to 
your  conscience,  which  still  makes  you  feel  the  difier- 
ence  between  right  and  wrong,  and  rebukes  and  pun- 
ishes you  for  this  habitual  sin  of  yoiu"  Hfe.  You  admit 
to  yourselves,  that  you  were  not  made  for  this  world 


140  '''HE  WORLDLING. 

only ;  that  you  are  the  creatures  and  subjects  of  God, 
bound  to  do  his  pleasure,  and  that  he  demands  of 
you  to  love  him  with  heart,  soul,  strength,  and  mind. 
No  doubt  there  have  been  moments  in  which  your 
worldly  pleasures  have  been  embittered  by  the  thought, 
that  you  were  enjoying  them  in  opposition  to  the  known 
will  of  your  Creator,  Benefactor,  and  Preserver.  Look- 
ing back  on  the  long  course  of  years,  which  you  have 
spent  without  God,  you  have  no  moral  complacency  in 
it.  It  has  not  been  the  life  which  a  dependent,  favoured 
creature  should  have  led.  To  have  thus  preferred  cre- 
ated things  to  God,  and  made  them  the  source  of  your 
happiness,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Great  Supreme,  must 
appear  to  you,  in  any  honest  retrospect,  all  glaring 
with  the  colours  of  idolatry.  It  is  ample  ground  of 
condemnation,  that  you  have  not  made  choice  of  God, 
but  year  after  year  have  made  choice  of  the  world. 
And  the  proper  consideration  of  this  might  bring  you 
to  repentance  and  to  the  foot  of  the  cross.  O  that  you 
could  be  induced  to.  meditate  profoundly  on  this  charge 
brought  against  the  ungodly  world,  that  they  mind 
earthly  things ! 

4.  To  mind  earthly  things  involves  peril  of  eternal 
destruction.  I  use  a  strong  term,  because  the  strongest 
I  can  use  is  hkely  to  leave  the  worldly  mind  unim- 
pressed. Yes,  the  man  who  deliberately  chooses  this 
world  sets  himself  against  God ;  and,  oh,  how  unequal 
is  the  contest !  He  has  his  reward.  In  this  life  he 
has  his  good  things,  and  many  a  despised  Lazarus  evil 


THE  WORLDLmG. 


141 


things ;  but  you  remember  the  reverse,  indicated  by 
the  parallel.  The  world  passeth  away  and  the  lust 
thereof.  All  that  is  in  the  world,  the  lust  of  the  flesh, 
the  lust  of  the  eye,  and  the  pride  of  hfe,  all  is  rapidly 
fleeing ;  and  when  it  has  fled,  the  worldling's  heaven 
has  fled  with  it.  Here,  in  this  present  state,  he  chose 
his  paradise.  No  eyes  had  he  to  behold  any  thing  be- 
yond. Revelation  and  its  ministers  warned  him  of  the 
unstable  basis  on  which'  he  was  i*earing  his  tall  and 
costly  structure,  and  sought  to  win  him  or  alarm  him 
to  take  the  glass  and  look  towards  that  city  which  hath 
foundations.  But  in  vain.  In  all  this  he  could  make 
out  nothing  like  reahty,  nothing  to  be  an  actuating  mo- 
tive. Living  amidst  the  things  of  sense,  and  alive 
every  moment  to  their  palpable  pressure,  he  took  into 
none  of  his  accounts  that  invisible  state  whose  awful 
sweep,  comprising  God  and  angels  and  saints  and  all 
that  is  holy  and  ennobling,  encircled  him;  nor  that 
solemn  eternity  into  which  he  was  about  to  make  the 
irrevocable  plunge.  And  when  the  hour  struck,  which 
he  so  dreaded  while  he  scarcely  beheved,  the  hour  of 
his  separation  and  departure,  it  found  him  still  with 
clenched  hands,  striving  to  retain  the  things  of  time, 
and  torn  away  bleeding  and  despairing  from  the  earth 
which  he  had  preferred  to  God.  Read  his  doom  in  the 
brief  but  pregnant  words  of  the  context :  Whose  end  is 
destruction  !     It  is  the  lot  of  those  who  forget  God. 

There  is  reason  to  fear,  that  more  are  incurring 
this  danger  than  are  willing  to  believe  it.     The  very 


142  THE  WORLDLING. 

closeness  of  their  attacliment  to  the  objects  of  sense 
makes  them  insusceptible  of  impressions  from  divine 
realities.  In  regard  to  these,  they  hear  as  though  they 
heard  not ;  Hstening  to  the  voice  of  admonition  as  the 
antediluvians  listened  to  the  forebodings  of  Noah,  or  as 
the  men  of  the  plain  received  the  warnings  of  Lot.  For 
persons  thus  infatuated,  what  hope  can  there  be  ?  What 
shall  hinder  their  dying  as  they  have  hved  ?  Nothing 
human,  my  brethren,  but  a  bold,  sudden  and  determinate 
resolution,  to  give  up  this  world  for  the  sake  of  another ; 
to  distrust  the  specious  fallacies  of  sense  and  give  cre- 
dence to  the  testimony  of  God.  Here,  indeed,  I  am 
made  to  feel  my  own  insufficiency.  How  solemn  is  the 
position  of  a  minister  of  Christ !  Placed  amidst  perish- 
ing feUow-mortals,  to  entreat  them  to  escape  from  im- 
pending ruin,  he  finds  them  deaf  to  all  his  arguments 
and  solicitations.  Year  after  year  he  comes  to  them,  with 
such  pleas  and  motives  as  his  closest  research  and  most 
earnest  prayers  can  enable  him  to  offer.  Yet  he  finds 
the  same  hardness  and  resistance  only  augmented,  as 
years  roll  on  and  the  cords  of  evil  habit  are  wound 
about  them  more  indissolubly.  One  after  another  drops 
away,  whom  we  dare  scarcely  follow  in  their  flight  into 
the  worlds  unknown.  The  ranks  close  upon  the  vacan- 
cies they  make,  and  the  battle  of  cupidity,  pleasure,  and 
ambition  rages  on  as  before.  It  is  in  such  circum- 
stances that  we  lend  a  wistful  ear  to  the  oracle  which 
proclaims  from  heaven,  "  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power, 
but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."     Our  wait- 


THE  WORLDLING.  243 

ing  eyes  are  unto  God,  for  the  outpouring  of  his  Holy 
Spirit.  And  next  to  this,  and  as  instrumental  of  this, 
our  appeal  is  to  the  professed  people  of  God,  that  they 
would  join  their  prayers  for  the  awakening  and  conver- 
sion of  an  ungodly  world.  It  was  the  contemplation 
of  souls  thus  besotted  and  endangered,  which  extorted 
from  Paul  the  pathetic  burst  which  accompanies  my 
text :  "  Por  many  walk  of  whom  I  have  told  you  often, 
and  now  tell  you  even  weeping,  whose  end  is  destruc- 
tion, who  mind  earthly  things  !  "  Beloved  brethren, 
I  should  hail  it  as  the  brightest  promise  which  has  ever 
gilded  these  feeble  labours  among  you,  if  there  should 
be  apparent  in  the  midst  of  us  a  deep,  extensive,  and 
tender  concern  in  the  hearts  of  professing  Christians,  for 
those  who  are  wedded  to  earthly  things.  Suffer  me, 
with  aU  sincerity,  to  commend  this  to  you  as  a  subject 
suitable  for  your  prayers ;  in  private,  in  your  families,  in 
social  devotion,  and  in  the  house  of  God.  For  unless  it 
please  God  to  send  revival,  our  outward  increase  will 
be  but  the  signal  for  our  inward  decay. 

If  numbers  were  strength  we  should  be  strong. 
But  mere  numbers  are  fallacious.  If  souls  are  not 
brought  to  God  by  converting  grace,  in  due  proportion, 
our  extension  is  but  a  weakening  process,  resulting  in 
unhealthy  plethora.  Let  me  confess  it,  my  respected 
brethren,  the  thought  often  occurs  to  me,  that  of  this 
sort  of  enlargement  we  already  have  too  much ;  it  may 
be  our  temptation  and  our  snare ;  it  may  invoke  God's 
chastening.     If  we  are  selfish,  if  we  wrap  ourselves  up 


X44  THE  WORLDLING. 

in  complacency,  if  we  "  number  the  people,"  if  we  sum 
up  the  wealth  represented  within  these  walls,  for  any 
purpose  except  to  rebuke  our  sin  and  quicken  our  ac- 
tivity, if  we  hug  our  easy  privileges,  and  refuse  to 
break  the  charm  and  go  forth  to  the  help  of  weaker  con- 
gregations ;  we  may  confidently  expect,  first  checks  and 
then  visitations.  When  I  look  fearfully  upon  this  great, 
compact,  and  harmonious  assembly,  and  consider  its 
resources  and  strength,  and  then  around  us  and  near  us 
behold  numerous  weak  and  struggling  churches,  which 
need  money  far  less  than  they  need  men,  I  cannot  resist 
the  conviction,  that  a  considerable  body  of  self-denying 
men,  with  their  families,  ought,  by  concerted  action,  to 
go  forth  as  an  evangehcal  colony ;  and  if  the  fifty  best 
and  ablest  of  the  flock  should  do  so  to-morrow,  while 
friendship  would  weep  over  the  wound,  I  should  give 
thanks  over  it,  as  the  best  day  of  my  Hfe.  But  to  pro- 
duce such  dispositions  we  need  a  new  spirit.  Christian 
professors,  to  whom  we  look  as  leaders,  will  have  to 
learn  fresh  lessons  of  moderation,  temperance,  and  re- 
gard for  weak  brethren.  They  will  have  to  separate 
the  amusements  of  their  children  by  a  more  visible  line 
from  the  amusements  of  a  world  lying  in  wickedness. 
They  will  cease  to  plead  for  Baal,  and  to  frame  excuses 
for  all  that  their  soul  lusteth  after.  Religion  will  be- 
come the  grand,  paramount  aff'air  of  Hfe.  Heavenly 
joys  over  the  salvation  of  the  offspring  whom  you  have 
encouraged  to  prefer  every  thing  to  God,  will  render 
needless  and  even  abhorrent  the  worldly  pleasures  in 


THE  WORLDLING.  ]^45 

which  you  now  inconsistently  indulge.  How  shall  this 
change  be  brought  about  ?  Know  ye,  that  God  has 
manifold  ways  of  effecting  it ;  and  among  these  the 
way  of  trial  and  affliction.  If  you  are  his,  he  will  use 
even  this,  rather  than  suffer  you  to  perish.  Let  our 
eyes  be  unto  the  Lord,  saying  with  intense  desire, 
"  Wilt  thou  not  revive  us  again,  that  thy  people  may 
rejoice  in  thee  ! " 


10 


VI. 

THE    SCOBNEB 


THE  SCORNER* 


Pboverbs  iii.  34. 
Surely  He  scometh  the  scomers." 

That  mode  of  irreligion  which  the  wisest  of  kings 
so  often  stigmatizes  mider  the  name  of  scorning,  makes 
itself  known  in  every  age.  It  is  the  derision  of  that 
which  is  good,  and  has  its  origia  in  ignorance,  folly, 
and  sin.  The  contempt,  sometimes  producing  ridicule, 
which  scoffs  at  wisdom  and  hohness,  is  begotten  of 
that  pride  which  "  was  not  made  for  man,"  and  which 
is  hateful  to  God.  To  despise  that  which  is  heavenly 
is  not  a  lower  degree  of  wickedness,  but  passes  the  bor- 
ders of  the  flagitious.  Hence  we  should  regard  the 
very  beginnings  of  such  a  temper  with  great  jealousy, 
and  should  be  willing  to  examine  its  signs  and  nature, 

*  New  York,  Febraary  21,  1858. 


150  "^^^^  SCORNER. 

in  order  to  secure  ourselves  against  its  contagion.  In 
treating  the  subject,  we  shall  find  it  profitable  to  begin 
with  lower  degrees  of  the  evil,  and  thence  to  trace  its 
progress.  To  laugh  or  jeer  in  regard  to  that  which  dis- 
pleases us  is  from  a  disposition  which  needs  no  artificial 
fostering.  The  opinion  of  Lord  Shaftesbury,  that "  Ridi- 
cule is  the  test  of  falsehood,"  will  find  few  serious  de- 
fenders in  our  day.  The  laugher's  side  is  not  always 
the  side  of  reason ;  as  we  might  show  by  referring  to 
the  ridicule  heaped  upon  many  a  great  enterprise  and 
improvement  in  science  and  art ;  the  satire  lasting  in 
almost  every  case  until  it  was  put  to  shame  by  manifest 
success.  That  form  of  impotent  contempt  which  we 
caU  sneer,  belongs  by  pre-eminence  to  those  who  are  to 
some  extent  conscious  of  being  least  armed  with  reason. 
Many  a  mischievous  hand  can  fiing  the  fire-cracker  or 
the  squib,  which  could  neither  wield  the  sword  nor  aim 
the  rifle.  Those  were  not  aU  heroes  who  "  called  for 
Samson  out  of  the  prison-house,"  that  he  might  make 
sport  for  them.  All  the  world  over,  the  derisive  portion 
will  be  found  the  weakest ;  and  this  upon  solid  prin- 
ciples. The  love  of  truth  and  practice  of  goodness, 
always  allied,  have  a  certain  pure  simphcity  and  candid 
uprightness  which  disincline  the  mind  to  take  pleasure 
in  the  inferiority  of  others.  Whatever  in  us  is  unself- 
ish and  benignant  revolts  against  making  spoil  of  a 
neighbour's  dehnquency.  And,  with  reverence  be  it 
said,  the  trait  is  divine,  for  "  God  is  mighty  and  de- 
spiseth  not  any."  Job.  xxxvi.  5.     But  ridicule  cast  on 


THE  SCORNER.  25| 

our  fellows  proceeds  from  contempt,  and  contempt  is  a 
mode  of  pride.  Hence  the  lower  down  we  go  in  the 
scale  of  jnorals  and  civiHzation,  the  greater  fondness  do 
we  find  for  the  language  of  scornful  raillery.  Little 
minds,  incompetent  to  forge  or  handle  massive  links  of 
argument,  find  a  petty  satisfaction  in  teazing,  cavil,  and 
sarcastic  irony.  The  number  of  such  minds  is  greater 
than  that  of  powerful  reasoners  and  men  of  insight,  and 
we  must  be  content  to  leave  them  in  the  enjoyment  of 
their  characteristic  warfare.  Their  buzzing  assaults  on 
religion  are  perpetually  reminding  one  of  the  lesser  but 
annoying  plagues  of  Egypt.  And  such  characters, 
fond  of  vexatious  sayings,  and  growing  in  piquancy  as 
they  fall  into  the  "  sere  and  yeUow  leaf,"  need  much 
grace  to  keep  them  from  becoming  scoffers. 

The  evil  of  ungenerous  contempt  and  acrid  censure 
becomes  more  imminent  where  there  is  some  pretension 
to  wit  or  humour.  Very  few  of  a  thousand  possess 
wit ;  scarcely  one  of  the  thousand  does  not  sometimes 
attempt  it.  Perhaps  there  has  never  been  an  age  which 
so  overvalued  the  ludicrous,  in  speech  and  literature,  as 
this  of  ours.  The  populace  cries  out  for  what  is  comic  on 
the  stage,  and  on  the  platform ;  and  the  periodical  jour- 
nal is  incomplete,  unless,  like  noble  houses  in  the  olden 
time,  it  maintains  its  clown.  The  wise  man  had  this  in 
his  eye,  when  he  said :  "  As  the  crackHng  of  thorns 
under  a  pot,  so  is  the  laughter  of  the  fool.  This  also  is 
vanity."  Ecc.  vii.  6.  We  would  contentedly  leave  the 
jester  to  wear  his  motley,  if  he  confined  his  witticism  to 


152  '^^^  SCORNER. 

his  own  ring ;  but  when  he  brings  his  gibes  and  grim- 
aces into  the  sanctuary  of  God,  and  seeks  to  provoke 
mirth  with  holy  things,  we  must  silence  and  debar  him. 
And  yet  how  common  is  it  to  connect  divine  subjects 
with  the  ludicrous,  and  even  the  burlesque.  As  true 
wit  involves  some  surprise,  some  unexpected  turn,  some 
sudden  apposition  of  opposites,  that  which  is  false  finds 
a  certain  spurious  zest  in  low,  trivial,  even  vile  sugges- 
tions, forced  into  contrast  with  ideas  of  Eternity  and 
God.  Therefore,  as  a  har  will  swear  in  his  common 
talk  to  add  credence  to  his  doubtful  word,  and  a  fool 
will  throw  imprecations  into  the  scale  to  give  weight  to 
his  feeble  reasoning,  so  your  vulgar  jester  resorts  to  pro- 
fane abuse  of  rehgious  objects,  that  he  may  startle  the 
scrupulous,  or  extort  laughter  from  the  stupid.  A 
verse  of  Scripture,  a  psalm  or  hymn,  the  text  of  a  dis- 
course, or  some  chance  expression  in  a  sermon,  serves 
such  a  one,  even  with  repetition,  as  a  counterfeit  coin 
serves  a  sharper.  The  mental  poverty,  the  irreverence, 
and  even  the  lewdness,  of  such  pretenders,  render  them, 
sooner  or  later,  disgusting  to  all  whose  judgment  is 
worth  asking.  But  their  folly  and  degradation  are  less 
to  be  regarded  by  us  than  their  sin  ;  for  we  violate  the 
Third  Commandment  when  we  trifle  with  God's  name, 
titles,  and  worship,  or  when  we  profane  his  Word  by 
associations  which  are  ludicrous.  So  that  I  would 
solemnly  charge  it  upon  those  who  do  not  wish  to  de- 
stroy souls,  that  they  shun  with  pious  fear  all  tales,  an- 
ecdotes, and  jests,  which   defile  by  their  touch  any 


THE  SCORNER 


153 


Scriptural  passage,  and  that  they  avoid  the  intercourse 
of  those  debased  minds  who  descend  to  such  resources. 

The  great  adversary  of  souls  has  so  many  snares  for 
the  feet  of  pilgrims,  that  we  cannot  be  too  wary  in  re- 
gard to  the  imperceptible  passage  from  what  seems  in- 
nocent or  venial,  to  what  is  reaUy  wicked.  From  idle 
words  about  God's  holy  Scripture,  youthful  heedless- 
ness is  beguiled  step  by  step,  into  by-paths  of  positive 
impiety.  Satan's  emissaries  are  generally  near,  ready 
to  help  on  the  error.  Seducers  try  their  victims  first 
by  milder  approaches ;  and  he  or  she  who  listens  with- 
out protest  or  indignation,  is  beheved  to  invite  further 
liberties.  If  your  unclean  but  amusing  friend  finds 
you  tolerant  of  his  ridiculous  parody  on  a  prophet  and 
apostle,  or  the  Lord  himself,  he  will  make  bold  to  vent 
a  sneer  at  doctrine,  at  principle,  at  law,  at  the  gospel, 
at  the  very  Cross  of  the  Blessed  Jesus.  Beware,  my 
youthful  friend,  how  you  cross  the  threshold  of  irrever- 
ence. The  conversation  of  wdcked  persons  is  danger- 
ous, their  intimacy  is  defiling,  their  settled  friendship  is 
destructive.  Walk  not  "  in  the  counsel  of  the  ungod- 
ly ;"  stand  not  "  in  the  way  of  sinners,"  lest  at  length 
you  come  to  sit  "  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful." 

The  beginnings  of  all  transgression  are  remote,  and 
the  descents  gradual.  The  soul  would  fly  back  in  hor- 
ror, if  those  extreme  turpitudes  were  proposed,  to  which 
it  wiU  nevertheless  come  at  length.  Hence  the  derision 
of  heavenly  things  must  be  presented  at  first  under 
some  less  appalling  form.     Por  example,  nothing  is  es- 


254  THE  SCORNER. 

teemed  more  lawful  and  acceptable  in  society,  than 
ridicule  of  professing  Christians.  Their  preciseness  and 
supposed  hypocrisy,  their  alleged  breaches  of  engage- 
ment, their  singularities  of  life  or  devotion,  especially 
their  real  failings,  backslidings  and  sins,  become  almost 
the  stock  in  trade  of  the  small  dealer  in  church  scandal. 
One  might  readily  think,  from  the  censor's  complacent 
chuckle  over  the  inconsistencies  and  falls  of  Christians, 
that  every  such  delinquent  was  a  scape-goat  to  bear  away 
his  own  sins.  Every  successive  generation  has  had  its 
several  crop  of  disparaging  or  opprobrious  names,  by 
which  to  designate  God's  children,  in  the  dictionary  of 
the  scorner.  They  are  the  *  Zealots,'  '  Devotees,'  '  Pre- 
cisians,' *  Puritans,'  '  Methodists,'  the  '  Saints,'  the 
*  Godly.'  "  They  that  sit  in  the  gate,  speak  against 
me,"  says  the  Psalmist,  "  and  I  was  the  song  of  the 
drunkards."  *  The  gatherings  of  ungodly  men,  in  all 
ages,  have  been  enlivened  by  the  grateful  strain  of  a  de- 
rision aimed  at  serious  and  conscientious  persons  ;  and 
the  playhouse,  a  synagogue  of  Satan,  shakes  with  vo- 
ciferous mirth,  when  the  scruples  of  pure  minds  are 
held  up  to  contempt.  The  prophet  declares  his  separa- 
tion from  such  assemblages  :  Jer.  xv.  17  :  "I  sat  not 
in  the  assembly  of  mockers,  nor  rejoiced."  If  there  is 
any  meaning  in  what  Scripture  says  of  God's  special  re- 
gard for  those  who  trust  in  him,  let  mockers  beware 
how  they  choose  them,  in  their  rehgious  character,  as 
objects  of  indignity. 

*  Ps.  bdx.  12. 


THE  SCORNER.  3^55 

Ministers  of  the  Gospel,  though  in  a  sense  public 
representatives  of  Christ's  cause,  are  individually  as 
open  to  criticism  as  any  persons  on  earth.  Not  only 
are  they  compassed  about  with  human  infirmity,  they 
are  made  by  their  very  post  pecuharly  conspicuous.  It 
is  not  wonderful  that  they  have  sustained  showers  of 
scorning.  Especially  if  they  have  upheld  the  majesty 
of  law,  if  they  have  denounced  vice,  if  they  have  ran 
counter  to  the  fashionable,  licentious,  apostate  Chris- 
tianity of  the  day,  if  they  have  preached  the  sovereignty 
of  God  and  the  gratuity  of  salvation,  they  have  had 
obloquy  and  contempt  for  their  lot.  Many  a  shaft  is 
aimed  at  the  heart  of  rehgion,  through  the  person  of 
the  ministry ;  for  he  who  would  be  afraid  to  reproach 
Christ,  may  attain  the  same  end  by  satirizing  his  ser- 
vants. Let  the  ambassadors  of  God  lift  up  their  voice 
against  any  prominent  abuse,  and  straightway  the  jour- 
nals, which  reflect  the  baser  interests  and  grudges  of 
society,  will  beset  their  path  with  greetings  like  those 
which  David  received  from  Shimei,  the  son  of  Gera, 
who  "  came  forth,  and  cursed  still  as  he  came,  and  cast 
stones  at  David."  2  Sam.  xvi.  5.  And  if  the  preachers 
of  the  Word  were  more  fully  to  discharge  their  func- 
tion in  declaring  that  gospel  which  is  foolishness  to  the 
unenlightened  and  a  stumbling-block  to  the  proud, 
they  would  be  yet  more  "  filled  with  the  scorning  6t 
those  that  are  at  ease,  and  with  the  contempt  of  the 
proud."    Ps.  cxxiii.  4. 

Upon  further  inquiry,  we  shall  find,  however,  that 


]^56  THE  SCORNER. 

all  this  opposition  to  the  persons  of  Christians,  has  a 
deeper  origin,  in  hostihty  to  the  spirit,  principles,  and 
life  of  rehgion.  The  pride,  the  scorn,  the  contemptuous 
laughter,  the  malignant  sneer,  which  are  a  sort  of  per- 
secution, directed  against  those  who  uphold  Christ's 
cause,  are  immediate  products  of  depravity,  and  of  the 
carnal  mind,  which  is  enmity  against  God.  The  an- 
tagonism is  one  of  ages  ;  nay,  it  is  one  pointed  out  by 
prophecy :  "  I  wiU  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the 
woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed."  Cain  and 
Abel  are  types  of  the  scoffing  world,  and  the  suffering 
church.  The  first-bom  man  "  was  of  that  wicked  one, 
and  slew  his  brother.  And  wherefore  slew  he  him? 
Because  his  own  works  were  evil,  and  his  brother's 
righteous."  To  which  the  loving  Apostle  adds  the 
caution :  "  Marvel  not,  my  brethren,  if  the  world  hate 
you."  1  John  iii.  12,  13.  A  similar  allusion  to  a  typical 
pair  of  brothers,  is  indicated  by  Paul,  when  he  says  of 
Ishmael  and  Isaac :  "  But  as  then,  he  that  was  bom 
after  the  flesh  persecuted  him  that  was  born  after  the 
Spirit,  even  so  it  is  now."  Gal.  iv.  29.  The  mutual 
repugnance  is  radical,  being  between  contraries  infinite- 
ly remote,  that  is,  hohness  and  sin.  The  modes  of  ex- 
hibiting this  proud  hostility  are  various.  One  of  the 
most  frequent,  and  that  which  we  are  now  concerned 
with,  is  the  arrogant  derision  of  what  is  good,  as  evinced 
by  manner,  gesture,  language,  act,  or  the  silence  of  bit- 
ter contempt. 

The  great  standard  of  right  is  God's  perfect  Law,  in 


THE  SCOKNER. 


157 


which  all  moral  excellence  is  summed  up,  as  light  is 
gathered  in  the  sun.  Holy  minds  admire  and  love  the 
law,  feeling  themselves  sweetly  and  unconstrainedly  in 
imion  with  it.  Unholy  minds  are  conscious  of  a  secret 
opposition  between  their  natural  tastes  and  the  intense 
spirituaUty  of  the  divine  law.  Restraining  grace,  reli- 
gious training,  and  the  common  or  special  influences  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  keep  this  enmity  in  a  certain  abey- 
ance, in  those  cases  where  sin  has  not  pushed  its  victim 
towards  the  brink  of  positive  impiety.  But  this  brink 
is  often  fallen  over,  or  at  least  looked  over,  by  the 
thoughtless,  the  impure,  and  the  abandoned.  A  large 
part  of  the  world's  sceptical  and  caviUing  attack  on  the 
code  of  Christian  morals  arises  from  personal  immoral- 
ity. Proud  selfishness  kicks  against  the  goads.  What 
though  the  enemy  wears  a  comic  mask  ?  his  sardonic 
laugh  is  that  of  hate.  The  strict  requisitions  of  the 
holy  commandment  are  so  distasteful  to  the  self-pleas- 
ing offender,  conscious  of  a  crookedness  which  this 
plummet  reveals,  that  he  tries  to  laugh  off  the  restless 
sentiment  of  obligation ;  and,  but  partially  succeeding 
in  himself,  he  makes  the  attempt  with  others.  Ridicide 
of  God's  commandments,  or  of  the  just  fears,  scruples 
and  tender  doubts  of  our  neighbour,  is  a  sign  that  the 
soul  harbours  inward  hatred  of  the  law.  "  It  was  a 
severe  retort  which  a  young  man  lately  made  to  an  in- 
fidel, who  was  speaking  against  the  divine  legation  of 
Moses.  He  had  made  many  objections  to  the  charac- 
ter of  that  holy  man  ;  and  the  young  Christian  said  to 


158  THE  SCORNER. 

Mm :  '  There  is  something  in  the  history  of  Moses  that 
will  warrant  your  opposition  to  him  more  than  any 
thing  you  have  yet  said.'  What  could  this  be ?  'He 
wrote  the  Ten  Commandments/  "  *  Read  parallel  proofs 
of  the  immoral  soil  out  of  which  scoffing  grows,  in  the 
unholy  Hues  of  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  and  Paine. 

This  uneasiness  of  conscience,  in  regard  to  precept 
and  prohibition,  when  it  concurs  with  self-conceit, 
haughtiness,  and  a  low  talent  for  impudent  reply,  con- 
stitutes the  genuine  scoffer  of  Solomon's  photograph. 
You  see  his  demeanour  under  criticism,  advice,  repri- 
mand, and  expostulation.  Pride  causes  him  to  take  his 
friend  for  an  enemy ;  he  is  regardless  of  the  truth  ut- 
tered ;  inimical  to  the  parent,  the  minister,  the  brother, 
the  elder  associate,  the  wife  of  his  bosom ;  if  any  one 
of  these  dares  to  touch  his  sore,  he  resents  the  sup- 
posed affront  with  words  of  bitter  ridicule.  Behold  thy 
likeness,  O,  misguided  sinner !  "A  scorner  heareth not 
rebuke."  "  A  scorner  loveth  not  one  who  reproveth 
him."  "Reprove  not  a  scorner,  lest  he  hate  thee." 
"He  that  reproveth  a  scorner,  getteth  to  himself 
shame."  f  In  all  these,  and  in  other  places  cited,  the 
same  Hebrew  word  is  used.  It  involves  the  notions 
of  vanity,  mocking,  treating  with  mimicry  and  illusory 
speeches,  satire,  sneer,  sarcasm,  irony,  and  reckless  disre- 
gard. The  counterpart  of  this  picture  is  in  many  a 
household,  as  many  a  disappointed  father,  many  a  heart- 

*  Life  of  Dr.  Waugh.  +  Prov.  xiii.  1,  ix.  7,  8. 

8 


THE  SCORJ^R.  .  ]^59 

sick  mother  knows  full  well.  Up  to  a  certain  age, 
children,  unless  precociously  vile,  yield  themselves  in 
docile  compliance  to  the  parental  voice.  But,  alas  !  ex- 
cept where  Grace  has  early  wrought,  there  comes  a  dis- 
agreeable crisis,  of  greater  or  less  duration.  Family 
training  arrives  at  the  stage  first  of  shyness,  then  of  for- 
wardness, sometimes  of  bitterness.  The  foohsh  boy, 
governed  more  by  companions  of  the  school  or  the 
street,  than  by  his  wisest,  dearest  protectors,  sets  up  to 
be  wiser  than  his  father.  The  frivolous,  vain,  selfish 
girl,  corrupted  by  the  daughters  of  the  ungodly,  from 
whom  she  takes  her  tone  at  some  fashionable  but  hea- 
thenish school,  turns  upon  the  mother  who  bare  her, 
and  tosses  the  head,  with  imaginary  knowledge  of  the 
world,  and  disgust  at  old-time  maxims  of  modesty. 

It  were  well  if  intolerance  of  rebuke  were  confined 
to  childhood  and  youth  ;  but  we  encounter  it  in  every 
stage  of  life.  Though  one  of  the  sincerest  acts  of  true 
friendship  is  the  bringing  into  the  right  way  of  one 
who  has  strayed,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that,  in  things 
moral  and  reHgious,  scarcely  any  one  rehshes  attempts 
to  lead  him  back  from  wandering,  or  to  prevent  his  fly- 
ing from  the  track.  Tell  your  neighbour  that  his  house 
is  too  gaudily  furnished,  that  his  children  are  sadly  per- 
verse, or  that  he  himself  drinks  too  much  wine,  and  is 
drowsy  and  muddled  after  dinner,  and  you  run  the  risk 
of  losing  an  acquaintance  for  your  pains.  If  to  this 
you  should  add  serious  admonition  respecting  his  eter- 
nal state,  and  the  need  of  preparation  for  death,  you 


IQQ  .  THE  SCORNER. 

would  be  likely  to  have  in  return  severe  jesting,  if  not 
scoffs. 

"Fools  make  a  mock  at  sin/'  The  enemy  of  souls 
continually  allures  them  towards  the  persuasion,  that  it 
is  a  small  evil.  Who  can  believe  that  yonder  timid 
youth,  flushing  with  the  colours  of  Virtue,  will  one  day 
laugh  to  scorn  the  reprovers  of  his  profaneness  or  his 
dissipation  ?  Yet  we  see  such  changes  every  day. 
Society  is  always  suffering  from  perverse  banter  and 
coarse  humour,  directed  against  rigid  morals.  The 
thefts,  defalcations,  peculations,  forgeries,  fraudulent  es- 
capes from  obligation,  full  hving  on  other  men's  money, 
and  filthy  purchase  of  votes  and  verdicts,  which  are 
at  once  the  opprobrium  and  the  rottenness  of  certain 
classes  in  modern  society,  are  fostered  and  brought  into 
development  by  what  young  men  hear  in  the  houses 
where  their  business  hes ;  by  jokes,  which  imply  that  a 
clever  operation  is  worth  some  moral  risk ;  by  pleas- 
antries about  lying  and  stealing,  under  decent  names  ; 
and  by  contemptuous  pity  of  the  tortoise-like  habits  of 
a  former  age.  Let  us  in  justice  observe,  that  we  have, 
in  the  highest  places  in  the  world  of  trade,  men  whose 
names  are  unsullied,  and  whose  voice  authorized  by 
experience,  would,  if  permitted,  chastise  the  sharper 
and  the  villain,  under  whatever  garb  of  mocking  and 
persiflage  he  might  lurk.  Such  animadversion  is  use- 
ful to  those  who  look  on  ;  as  indeed  is  the  detection  of 
every  arrogant  pretender.  "  Smite  a  scomer,  and  the 
simple  will  beware;    and  reprove  one  that  hath  un- 


THE  SCORNER. 


161 


derstanding,  and  he  will  understand  knowledge.''  And 
again,  "When  the  scomer  is  punished,  the  simple 
is  made  wise."  The  pubhc  award  is  generally  right 
and  final,  in  respect  to  one  who  has  distinguished  him- 
self by  sneer,  sarcasm,  and  arrogance ;  for,  as  Solomon 
says,  "  the  scorner  is  an  abomination  to  men."  Prov. 
xxiv.  9. 

It  is  not  easy  to  stop  upon  the  downward  slide  of 
sin ;  and  hence  he  who  begins  with  trifling  and  badi- 
nage, upon  subjects  of  duty  and  grace,  wiU  descend,  un- 
less divinely  stayed,  to  the  degree  of  undervaluing  his 
own  danger,  and  making  Hght  of  God's  threatenings. 
This  is  the  foolhardiness  of  transgression.  There  is  a 
sublime,  silent  delay  about  the  Divine  Justice,  which 
leaves  rash  sinners  under  the  delusion,  that,  against  a 
Lawgiver  so  longsuffering,  they  may  offend  with  impu- 
nity. If  every  Cain  were  marked  the  very  instant  he 
shed  blood,  and  every  Ananias  struck  dead  upon  the 
utterance  of  his  He,  scoffing  at  judgments  would  be  im- 
possible. But  the  awful  tread  of  justice  is  slow,  and  so 
the  depraved  soul  grows  bold.  "  Because  sentence  against 
an  evil  work  is  not  executed  speedily,  therefore  the 
heart  of  the  sons  of  men  is  fully  set  in  them  to  do  evil." 
Conscience  sleeps,  and  therefore  the  sinner  thinks  the 
sin  is  not  on  record.  "  He  hath  said  in  his  heart,  God 
hath  forgotten :  he  hideth  his  face :  he  wiU  never  see 
it."  Ps.  X.  11.  In  Ezekiel's  time,  the  idolaters  who 
polluted  the  very  temple-chambers  by  secret  imagery, 

said,  "  The  Lord  seeth  us  not ;  the  Lord  hath  forsaken 
11 


IQ2  '^^^  SCORNEK. 

the  earth."  The  same  folly  and  wickedness  bear  like 
fruits  in  later  days  ;  and  when  these  depraved  tempers 
find  vent  in  words,  and  corresponding  demeanour,  we 
have  the  Scomer  named  in  divine  threatenings 
•  Unbelief  and  unholy  daring  may  attain  such  a 
height,  as  madly  to  try  their  strength  not  only  with 
menaced,  but  with  actual  wrath;  and  creatures  have 
been  found,  who,  amidst  the  falling  bolts  of  judgment, 
have  stood  out  against  the  Creator  and  Judge  in  arms. 
A  cheat,  of  course,  is,  in  such  cases,  put  upon  oneself, 
as  if  there  were  a  chance  of  escape  after  all ;  or,  as  if 
these  inflictions  were  not  judgments  for  sin ;  or,  which 
is  more  common,  as  if  infinite  mercy  would  at  length 
remit.  When  scornful  offenders  laugh  at  war,  famine, 
pestilence,  and  other  tokens  of  divine  displeasure  against 
sin,  whether  national  or  mdividual,  denying  all  provi- 
dence in  such  events,  and  baring  the  head  to  receive 
any  storm  from  such  quarter,  they  only  re-enact  the 
part  of  ancient  unbelievers,  who  cried,  "  The  evil  shall 
not  overtake  nor  prevent  us."  Amos  ix.  10. 

But  on  whatsoever  side  we  turn,  we  find  exposures 
of  the  fundamental  evil,  on  which  aU  these  contempts  re- 
pose, as  all  later  formations  on  the  primitive  base.  It  is 
depravity  of  mind  and  heart  in  regard  to  Almighty  God ; 
disbehef  of  his  being ;  derogation  from  his  attributes  ; 
forgetfulness  of  Ms  presence ;  disregard  of  his  infinite 
purity;  hardihood  towards  his  awful  justice;  in  a 
word,  it  is  practical  atheism  which  makes  the  scomer. 
"  Wherefore  doth  the  wicked  contemn  God  ?  he  hath 


THE  SCORNER.  ^Q^ 

said  in  his  heart,  Thou  wilt  not  require  it."  Ps.  x.  13. 
Every  form  of  sin  involves  something  of  the  horrid  evils 
just  named  ;  for  who  could  sin  under  the  thorough  and 
constant  influence  of  right  views  and  feelings  towards 
the  Divine  Majesty  ?  "  Thou  God  seest  me,"  so  far  as 
it  sinks  into  the  heart,  is  a  preservative  against  trans- 
gression. But  sin  begets  sin ;  yea,  one  sin  begets 
numberless  sins,  and  one  violation  of  law  and  con- 
science, leads  to  other  violations,  and  these  to  more,  till 
the  fearful  progression  ends  in  open  profligacy,  insult  to 
the  Eternal  King,  and  speedy  destruction.  No  one  knows, 
when  initiated  into  some  lower  degree  of  Satan's  lodge, 
whether  he  may  not  penetrate  to  the  highest.  This 
makes  it  dangerous  to  parley  with  temptation.  Judi- 
cial blindness  befalls  those  who  voluntarily  put  out  the 
light  of  education  and  conscience.  One  sin,  in  God's 
awful  judgment,  becomes  the  punishment  of  another. 
The  crime  which  the  youthful  sinner  now  looks  at  with 
shuddering,  as  it  stands  before  him  in  his  path,  he  may 
one  day  see  behind  him,  among  the  dim,  cloudy  begin- 
nings of  his  career,  the  earhest  steps  of  his  enormous 
transgression.  It  is  a  greater  evil  to  scoff"  at  the  reli- 
gion of  others,  than  to  be  simply  irreligious  ourselves. 
Many  ties  must  be  rent,  many  walls  overleaped,  and 
many  guards  cut  down,  before  the  race  of  evil  at- 
tains to  open  derision  of  truth  and  duty.  Oppo- 
sition to  God's  spiritual  agency,  and  ascription  of 
Christ's  words  to  the  Evil  One,  accompanied  with  de- 
liberate utterance  of  the  same,  in  scoffing  language. 


164  '^^^  SCOENER. 

constituted  that  blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost, 
which  hath  no  forgiveness,  either  in  this  world  or  that 
which  is  to  come.  And  he  who  treads  under  foot  the 
Son  of  God,  and  counts  his  blood  unholy,  "  hath  done  " 
so  it  is  written,  "  despite  unto  the  Spirit  of  grace." 
Heb.  X.  29.  Those,  therefore,  who  are  tempted  to 
make  merry  with  divine  realities,  with  the  Word  of 
Salvation,  with  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  re- 
vival of  churches  and  the  conversion  of  sinners  ;  espe- 
cially those  who,  from  levity,  folly,  inconsideration,  def- 
erence to  bad  example,  or  temporary  gusts  of  pride 
and  passion,  indulge  themselves  in  ridiculing  such  as 
begin  to  seek  the  salvation  of  the  soul,  should  beware 
in  time,  lest,  abandoned  to  themselves,  they  make  ship- 
wreck of  all  principle,  and  find  their  lot  among  hopeless 
scofiers.  "  Judgments  are  prepared  for  scomers,  and 
stripes  for  the  back  of  fools."  Having  thus  tempted 
Satan,  they  may  be  led  by  him  into  an  incapacity  of  be- 
lieving ;  having  sneered  at  all  that  is  pure,  august  and 
heavenly,  they  may,  amidst  the  ruins  of  their  faith,  be 
haunted  by  spectres  of  multiform  doubt ;  having  chal- 
lenged God  to  forsake  them,  they  may  spend  their  de- 
cline in  ever  learning,  yet  never  coming  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  truth ;  for,  "  a  scorner  seeketh  wisdom,  and  find- 
eth  it  not."  And  these  are  cautions  peculiarly  needful 
at  times  when  the  Spirit  of  God  manifests  his  agency 
in  the  churches,  humbhng  and  melting  believers,  and 
convincing  the  impenitent ;  and  when,  likewise,  Satan, 
in  his  prime  character,  as  adversary  and  arch-scomer,  is 


THE  SCORNER  265 

busy,  breatliing  into  his  cliildreii,  at  the  corners  of  the 
streets,  in  the  haunts  of  vice,  and  alas,  in  the  editorial 
chair,  foul  blasphemies,  which  may  tiUTi  away  men  from 
the  great  salvation.  We  have  no  fear  for  the  church  of 
the  Hving  God,  from  the  mocking  laughter  of  surround- 
ing foes  ;  though  "  they  return  at  evening,"  "  make  a 
noise  like  a  dog,  and  go  round  about  the  city."  Ps.  lix. 
The  people  of  God  will  still  rejoice  in  his  power,  which 
shall  lead  them  on  to  triumph.  But,  for  the  scoffers 
themselves,  we  tremble  ;  and  are  ready  to  address  them 
in  the  words  of  Paul  at  Antioch  :  "  Behold,  ye  despi- 
sers,  and  wonder  and  perish ;  for  I  work  a  work  in 
your  days,  a  work  which  ye  shall  in  no  wise  believe, 
though  a  man  declare  it  unto  you."  Acts  xiii.  41.  It 
is  a  dreadful  fall,  from  haughty  scorning  of  God's  ways, 
down  to  grovelling  vice  and  drivelling  falsehood  :  such 
contrasts  have  we  seen.  The  freethinker  and  the  here- 
tic, after  deriding  the  mysteries  of  Scripture  and  the  in- 
spiration of  prophets,  have  sat  down  to  prate  of  endless, 
unintelligible  dreams,  and  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  spiritual 
mediums,  so  named  in  their  jargon.  Safer,  my  breth- 
ren in  the  Lord,  is  it  to  trust  in  Him,  "  that  frustrateth 
the  tokens  of  the  liars,  and  maketh  diviners  mad ;  who 
tumeth  wise  men  backward,  and  maketh  their  know- 
ledge foolish."  Isaiah  xhv.  25.  O  pray  to  God,  beloved 
hearer,  that  he  would  keep  your  conscience  tender,  and 
your  mind  reverent,  lest  from  one  degree  of  profane 
scorning  you  proceed  to  another,  and  at  length  reach 
the  point  of  those  who  crucify  the  Son  of  God  afresh, 


\QQ  THE  SCORNER. 

and  put  him  to  an  open  shame.  At  present,  you  think 
this  acme  of  impiety  far  from  you,  and  so  I  trust  it  still 
is.  But  consider,  I  pray  you,  who  it  is  that  holds  you 
back  from  such  enormities,  and  shrink  from  every  form, 
or  sentiment,  or  speech,  which  could  grieve  that  Spirit  of 
grace.  "  Quench  not  the  Spirit,"  in  yourselves  or  in 
others.  And  that  you  may  make  all  sure,  turn  your 
back  upon  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  and,  go- 
ing to  the  Lord  Jesus,  take  him  as  your  Saviour, 
Teacher,  and  King. 


VII. 

SALVATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  FATHER. 


SALVATION  TKACED  TO  GOD  THE 
FATHEK.* 


John  iii.  16. 

"  For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only-hegotten  Son, 
that  whosever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  ever- 
lasting life." 

What  verse  of  Scripture  is  more  deeply  engraved 
on  our  memory  ?  Wliere  is  a  passage  to  be  found 
whicli  has  been  more  frequently  uttered  in  Christian 
assemblies  ?  Is  there  one  which  more  ftdly  comprises 
the  essence  of  the  Gospel  plan  ?  Or  could  we- choose  a 
divine  saying  of  our  Lord  better  suited  to  guide  and 
elevate  our  thoughts  ? 

Here  is  Jesus  speaking  of  himself,  and  declaring 
why  he  came  from  heaven  to  earth.  Here  is  the  pro- 
vision of  mercy  traced  up  to  its  eternal  fountain,  in  the 

*  New  York,  May  16, 1852. 


170     SALVATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  FATHER. 

infinite  benevolence  of  the  Most  High.  Here  is  the 
river  of  compassion  widening  towards  all  nations.  Here 
is  the  door  of  escape  set  wide  open,  from  hell  to  heaven. 
And  here  is  the  direction  how  any  willing  soul  may 
gain  entrance  to  that  way.  My  brethren,  it  is  matter 
which  iaterests  us  all ;  for  we  are  all  unholy  and  sub- 
ject to  condemnation ;  we  are  all  in  jeopardy ;  we  are 
all  hastening  to  death,  yet  naturally  desirous  of  ever- 
lasting happiness.  And  in  these  words  we  have  a 
Saviour  offered  to  all.  The  subject  is  God's  love,  and 
the  method  by  which  this  love  may  become  our  per- 
sonal salvation.  If  God  should  vouchsafe  to  carry  the 
truth  home  to  your  heart  this  day,  he  would  thus  make 
it  a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  I  affirm  without 
hesitation,  that  the  words  of  my  text,  if  received  in  their 
spiritual  meaniag  and  with  firm  persuasion,  are  able  to 
make  you  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith  that  is  in 
Christ  Jesus. 

Does  God  the  Father  really  love  the  world  of  sin- 
ners ?  and  what  is  the  character  of  this  love  ?  These  are 
the  questions  which  we  have  to  answer.  We  may  vague- 
ly assent  to  the  existence  of  such  love  without  deeply  en- 
tering into  its  grandeur.  Accompany  me,  while  we 
consider,  first,  the  reaUty  of  this  love,  and  secondly,  its 
degree.  Both  are  exhibited  by  meanfe  of  a  great  and 
marvellous  gift. 

I.  The  REALITY  OF  THE  FaTHEr's  LOVE  TO  THE 
WORLD  IS  SHOWN  BY  HIS  GIVING  HIS  SON.      The  WOrds 


SALVATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  FATHER.     ^^J 

apon  which  we  have  come  to  meditate  set  forth  this 
great  and  overwhelming  argument  for  the  love  of  God : 
He  gave  his  Son.  SmaU  words  sometimes  contain  vast 
meaning.  In  the  solemn  act  of  worship  called  an  oath, 
and  in  the  form  of  it  so  often  uttered  and  heard  with 
lightness  and  irreverence,  So  help  you  God,  the  im- 
mense weight  of  the  imprecation  hes  in  the  shortest 
monosyllable  so ;  that  is,  may  Almighty  God  so  help 
you,  or  the  reverse,  as  you  now  declare  the  truth.  In 
like  manner  the  text  revolves  on  the  same  brief  adverb, 
as  the  principal  hinge  of  its  significancy.  By  what 
proof  or  evidence  are  we  convinced  that  God  loved  the 
world  ?  And  how  great  was  this  love  ?  The  answer 
is,  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only-begot- 
ten Son.  This  is  the  demonstration  of  the  love  in  its 
reality,  and  the  measure  of  the  love  in  its  greatness. 
And  if  God  so  loved  the  world  as  to  make  a  sacrifice 
of  infinite  value,  the  love  is  such  that  it  passeth  knowl- 
edge. 

The  heathen  had  no  such  being  in  their  crude  my- 
thology as  a  God  of  pure  love.  When  the  philosophers 
revolted  against  the  incredible  and  corrupting  fables  of 
tradition  and  poetry,  they  formed  various  conceptions 
of  a  Supreme  Intelligence ;  but  the  best  of  them  fell 
infinitely  short  of  the  idea  which  a  young  child  in 
Christian  households  acquires  of  a  Being,  infinite,  eter- 
nal and  unchangeable  in  wisdom,  power,  justice,  truth, 
and  goodness.  As  soon  as  we  think  of  One  who  has 
all  perfections,  we  think  of  One  who   is  benevolent. 


172     SALVATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  FATHER. 

and  if  we  add  the  conception  of  this  Supreme  Existence 
as  coming  forth  from  the  sohtude  of  his  eternal  majesty 
to  create  inteUigent  spirits,  we  immediately,  as  by  a 
necessity  of  reason,  conclude  that  he  loves  the  creatures 
whom  he  has  made.  If  we  could  stop  here,  all  would 
be  free  from  difficulty. 

If  we  could  truly  regard  the  Most  High  as  not  only 
benevolent,  but  nothing  besides ;  as  loving  every  object, 
whether  good  or  evil ;  as  possessing  no  moral  discrimi- 
nation, as  acting  only  and  forever  towards  the  happiness 
of  all  he  has  made ;  we  should  look  with  confidence 
toward  the  awful  future  of  eternity,  as  assured  that, 
whether  pure  or  sinful,  we  should  be  made  blessed  for- 
ever. And  some  take  this  view ;  thus  founding  on  a 
partial  idea  of  divine  excellence  the  destructive  scheme 
of  universal  salvation.  But  on  this  hypothesis  we  can 
never  explain  the  enigma  of  the  universe.  If  God 
were  all  love,  and  in  such  a  sense  as  to  be  nothing  but 
love ;  if  God  had  no  end  in  creation  but  to  make  his 
creatures  happy,  there  would  of  course  be  no  unhappi- 
ness  in  the  world.  The  proof  that  such  a  view  is  false, 
stares  us  in  the  face  on  which  side  soever  we  turn  our 
eyes.  Tor  is  the  existing  earth,  to  go  no  farther,  fuU 
of  unmingled  bliss  ?  Answer  ye,  who  pass  lifetimes  of 
sorrow ;  ye  millions  of  sufferers  by  disease,  war,  and  a 
thousand  deaths.  The  fact,  as  we  see  it  and  feel  it, 
disproves  the  assumption  that  God  has  no  other  prin- 
ciple of  government  than  that  of  promoting  universal 
happiness.     Unless,  indeed,  we  deny  his  sovereignty. 


SALVATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  FATHER.     l<j^ 

diminish  his  perfection,  ascribe  the  present  state  to 
some  rival  divinity,  and  thus  upturn  the  very  basis  of 
all  rehgion,  natural  and  revealed.  If  God's  sole  object 
in  creation  had  been  to  secure  the  absence  of  all  unhap- 
piness,  no  sound  mind  will  deny  that  he  had  power  to 
effect  it.  If,  as  the  fact  shows,  the  case  is  tremendously 
the  reverse,  we  have  no  escape  from  the  conclusion,  that 
along  with  the  disposition  to  make  his  creatures  hap- 
py, there  were  other  divine  attributes  which  allowed 
the  possibihty  of  pain.  We  must  afiirm  this,  or  else 
refuse  God's  permission  to  the  present  state,  or  deny 
the  perfections  or  very  being  of  a  God.  As  we  shrink 
from  these  dreadful  tenets  of  chance  and  atheism,  we 
are  forced  to  bow  down  and  acknowledge  that  our 
plummet  cannot  sound  the  depths  of  the  divine  immen- 
sity. We  must  own,  with  adoring  fear,  that  the  Infinite 
One  has  reasons  of  awful  state  why  even  misery  should 
be  allowed  to  enter  his  dominions.  And  we  justly  look 
for  these  reasons  in  those  other  attributes  of  Jehovah, 
which  are  revealed  no  less  clearly  than  his  goodness. 

God  is  infinitely  holy.  He  is  so  by  the  eternal 
necessity  of  his  nature.  He  cannot  deny  himself.  He 
is  and  must  be  forever  opposed  to  aU  sin.  It  is  his 
very  nature,  it  is  of  the  essence  of  his  Godhead,  to  stand 
in  eternal  opposition  to  moral  evil.  All  moral  good  is 
such  simply  because  it  conforms,  we  need  not  say  to 
a  divine  command,  but  to  the  divine  nature,  as  its 
standard.  AU  moral  evil  is  such,  because  it  deviates 
from  this  eternal  standard.   But  the  two  are  necessarily 


174     SALVATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  TATHER. 

and  everlastingly  opposed  to  one  another.  The  will  of 
God,  which  is  our  Law,  is  only  the  effluence  of  this 
eternal  nature ;  and  hence,  creatures  remaining  the 
same,  we  cannot  conceive  of  the  law  as  otherwise  than 
it  is,  or  of  a  law  demanding  the  opposite  of  what  it  now 
demands,  or  as  demanding  less  than  it  now  demands  ; 
in  other  words,  less  than  perfection.  This  tendency  of 
God's  nature  to  demand  conformity  in  moral  creatures, 
belongs  to  his  essential  glory,  and  we  call  it  his  Justice. 
It  is  not  for  us  to  ask  why  He  created  man  ;  or  why 
he  created  him  a  free  agent,  or  what  is  the  same  thing, 
capable  of  sinning.  He  has  done  so ;  and  shall  not  the 
Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right  ?  We  might  deem  it 
wiser  and  holier  to  make  a  world  in  which  no  sin  and 
no  pain  could  ever  exist ;  but  that  such  a  purpose  was 
not  necessarily  demanded  by  God's  holiness,  we  learn 
assuredly  from  the  fact  that  God  actually  designed  the 
world  which  we  see.  There  may  be  reasons,  nay  there 
must  be  reasons,  all  unknown  to  us,  why  the  greatest 
glory  of  God  is,  after  all,  most  promoted  by  the  very 
irregularities  which  we  deplore. 

Still  it  abides  true,  that  our  Lord  is  a  God  of  love. 
No  one  attribute  conflicts  with  any  other.  When  free 
creatures,  and  creatures  are  not  moral  beings  unless 
free,  in  the  exercise  of  their  freedom  sin  and  fall, 
the  consequence  is  misery.  Let  us  not  quarrel  with 
this  arrangement.  The  connexion  of  sin  and  misery 
may,  for  all  we  know,  be  as  necessary  as  the  connexion 
between  the  absence  of  light  and  the  presence  of  dark- 


SALTATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  FATHER.     ^75 

ness.  Many  things  in  our  own  experience,  lead  us  to 
believe  this  to  be  so.  We  are  never  happy  when  we 
sin.  Suppose  a  law  given,  the  misery  consequent  on 
violating  this  law  fixed  as  a  penalty ;  the  Word  of  God 
uttered  to  declare  this  connexion ;  and  we  at  once  be- 
hold God's  Justice  and  his  Truth  committed  on  the  side 
of  Hohness,  and  against  the  sinner.  Thus  far  we  gain 
no  rehef  by  clinging  to  the  assertion  that  God  is  good. 
It  is  true,  eternally  true.  But  how  do  we  know  that 
even  Benevolence,  on  a  large  scale,  may  not  be  glori- 
fied by  the  punishment  of  obstinate  offenders,  when, 
even  in  civil  society,  cases  occur  in  which  the  destruc- 
tion of  one  life  promotes  the  salvation  of  many  ?  But 
these  are  mysteries  which  we  are  not  called  upon  to 
resolve.  Secret  things  belong  unto  God.  The  Justice 
and  Truth  of  God  are  as  clearly  revealed  as  his  good- 
ness and  mercy.  They  must  not  be  thrown  into  oppo- 
sition, but  must  forever  co-exist.  And  the  great  all- 
important  deduction  which  we  should  make,  for  the 
guidance  of  our  thoughts,  is,  that  if  Mercy  be  ever  dis- 
played, it  will  be  in  such  a  way  as  shall  hold  up  Justice 
and  Holiness  with  undiminished  and  equal  splendour. 
This  is,  indeed,  the  key  to  the  whole  Gospel,  which  is 
none  other  than  a  device  of  Infinite  Wisdom  to  repair 
the  evils  of  the  fall,  and  thus  show  forth  all  the  com- 
mingling perfections  of  God  in  magnificent  and  adora- 
ble harmony.  AH  hues  blend  with  consummate  beauty 
in  the  rainbow  around  the  throne.  To  effect  this  har- 
mony was   the  intention  of  the  most  extraordinary 


276  SALVATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  -FATHER. 

transaction  in  the  earth's  history,  namely,  that  He  who 
made  it  died  upon  it.  The  difficulty  must  have  been 
great  which  made  so  extreme  a  method  necessary.  No 
physical  difficulty  can  be  imagined  in  regard  to  God, 
for  he  is  Omnipotent.  By  an  act  of  sovereign  will  he 
could  translate  all  souls  from  heaven  to  hell,  or  from 
hell  to  heaven.  The  obstacle  to  such  a  transaction  can 
be  none  but  a  moral  one.  There  is  a  sort  of  impropriety 
in  asserting  any  such  thing  as  difficulty,  where  God  is 
concerned ;  but  human  language  can  do  no  better.  It 
is  only  a  way  of  saying,  that  to  do  this  or  that  would 
be  for  God  to  deny  himself. 

Even  in  our  own  circle  of  experience,  different  prin- 
ciples within  us  may  thus  come  into  seeming  conflict. 
The  Judge  may  have  to  pass  sentence  on  one  whom  he 
pities;  here  justice  has  to  settle  it  with  compassion. 
The  parent  is  often  called  to  punish  the  child  whom  he 
loves.  It  is  easy  for  us  to  say  that  God  might  freely 
pardon  any  sinner,  or  all  sinners,  without  any  interven- 
tion or  propitiation.  I  prefer  at  this  time  to  rest  on 
the  reply — and  it  admits  of  no  contradiction — ^that  God 
has  done  otherwise,  and  has  so  proved  that  there  was 
no  other  way.  One  thing,  indeed,  the  Supreme  Law- 
giver and  Judge  might  have  done.  He  might  have 
suffered  the  sentence  to  become  absolute ;  have  shut 
the  door  of  pardon ;  and  have  turned  away  from  the 
world  of  sinners,  and  left  them  to  whirl  away  into  the 
infinite  spaces  of  increasing  sin  and  misery.  No  man 
can  say  this  would  have  been  unjust,  unless  he  is  pre- 


SALVATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  FATHER.     ^-jry 

pared  to  say  that  the  law  was  unjust ;  for  this  was  the 
demand  of  law.  Especially  might  the  offended  Sove- 
reign have  so  done,  when  the  mode  of  doing  otherwise 
involved  the  most  stupendous  sacrifice.  And  why  not? 
Why  did  Divine  Wisdom  and  Holiness  pause,  and  sus- 
pend the  lifted  sword  of  vengeance  ?  Why  did  heavenly 
condescension  look  upon  ruined  men  ?  Oh,  my  breth- 
ren, it  was  because  Love,  boundless  Love,  stayed  the 
hand  of  Justice,  held  the  bolt  of  fiery  retribution,  and 
interposed  itself  between  the  descending  edge  and  our 
condemned  souls.  If  God  were  all  Justice,  and  he  is 
as  truly  just  as  loving,  no  redemption  had  been  possible. 
If  God  had  been  all  Love,  and  he  is  as  truly  loving  as 
he  is  just,  no  redemption  had  been  necessary.  But  be- 
cause He  is  both  Justice  and  Mercy,  and  because  Jus- 
tice demanded  satisfaction,  and  Mercy  pleaded  for  re- 
mission, "  Righteousness  and  Peace  kissed  each  other ;" 
and  Love  hung  on  the  arm  of  paternal  severity,  while 
Wisdom  pointed  out  a  method  to  reconcile  both. 

To  our  poor  Hmited  faculties,  this  has  to  be  repre- 
sented under  figure  of  a  conflict  of  attributes ;  but,  in 
reality,  there  is  no  conflict  in  God.  To  our  apprehen- 
sion, there  seems  a  series  of  counsels  and  a  change  of 
plan ;  but  there  is  neither  succession  nor  mutation  in 
God.  Still  the  highest  philosophy  commands  us  to 
abide  by  the  childlike  expressions  of  the  Bible.  We 
shall  never  comprehend  this  mystery  better  than  when, 
as  in  our  early  days,  we  regard  God  as  angry  against 
sin,  yet  desiring  not  the  death  of  the  sinner.     This  love 

12 


178     SALVATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  FATHER. 

for  sinners  must  have  been  unutterably  great,  or  there 
had  been  no  such  event  as  the  Crucifixion. 

And  let  me  with  more  than  ordinary  earnestness 
implore  you  not  to  misapprehend  this  love,  by  an  error 
which  is  common  among  shallow  theologians.  I  intend 
those,  who  think  of  God  the  Father  as  less  loving  than  • 
the  Son  ;  as  more  rigorously  just  than  the  Son  ;  as  in 
some  sort  a  relentless  and  implacable  sovereign;  as 
originating  no  tender  mercies,  and  thirsting  for  the 
blood  of  vengeance,  till  appeased  by  the  Son.  Into 
such  extremes  some  may  be  led  by  the  inadequacy  of 
all  earthly  words  and  figures  to  represent  heavenly 
realities.  No,  beloved  brethren,  the  God  of  our  text, 
who  gives  his  Son,  is  God  the  Father.  He  is  as 
clearly  the  God  of  Love.  There  is  no  conflict  be- 
tween the  Father  and  the  Son ;  and  there  is  a  divine 
harmony  in  their  acts ;  for  whatsoever  things  the 
Father  doth,  those  doth  the  Son  likewise.  The  adora- 
ble Son  of  God  is  co-equal  in  infinite  justice  and  hatred 
of  sin.  The  adorable  Father  is  boundless  in  love  and 
compassion.  From  him  came  the  whole  scheme  of 
salvation.  "  For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave 
his  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  Thus  far 
have  we  dwelt  mainly  on  the  reaUty  of  this  love.  True, 
this  it  was  impossible  to  do,  without  frequent  glimpses  of 
its  degree ;  but  now  more  particularly  let  us  bring  this 
into  review,  by  meditating  with  you  on  the  extent  of  this 
divine  love,  as  manifested  in  its  grand  testimonial. 


SALTATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  FATHER.  ir^g 

II.  The  GREATNESS  OF  THE  PaTHEr's  LOVE  TO  THE 
WORLD  IS    SHOWN    BY  HIS    GIVING  THE  SoN.      Not  that 

you  or  I,  or  angels  above  us,  can  take  the  gauge  and 
dimensions  of  this  divinity  of  goodness.  With  us  they 
look  into  the  chasm,  with  folded  wings,  and  murmur. 
Oh,  the  depth,  the  depth  !  Yet,  again,  they  learn 
enough  to  burst  forth  into  chorus,  while  the  shining 
retinue,  reaching  from  earth  to  heaven,  breaks  forth  in 
the  doxology,  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  peace 
on  earth,  good- will  to  men ! "  Love  is  measured  by  its 
gifts  and  sacrifices.  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than 
this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  hfe  for  his  friend.  God's 
love  is  measured  by  the  gift  and  sacrifice  of  his  Son. 
But  while  we  repeat  and  adopt  the  words,  who  will 
assume  to  comprehend  them  !  God  gave  his  Son,  but 
who  can  take  the  measurement  of  the  gift  ?  for  who  cai\ 
ascend  to  the  height  of  his  glory,  or  descend  to  the 
depth  of  his  humiliation  ?  Who  hath  entered  into  the 
dread  chamber  and  pavilion  of  that  eternity  before  all 
worlds,  in  which  the  Only-Begotten,  who  is  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Pather,  dwelt  in  the  plenitude  of  the 
triune  bliss,  the  Word,  which  was  with  God,  which 
was  God  ?  Lose  yourself  as  you  may  in  the  delightful 
contemplation  of  this  wonderful  glory,  you  are  still  baf- 
fled in  every  essay  to  gaze  more  nearly  into  the  empy- 
rean majesty,  or  seize  the  dazzling  lines  of  that  transac- 
tion, when  it  was  decreed  in  council  that  God  should 
become  man.  Yet  mth  reverent  intentness  of  adoring 
thought,  we  may,  through  a  veihng  cloud,  discern  so 


180     SALVATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  FATHER. 

much  as  the  Spirit  has  seen  fit  to  intimate.  No  man 
knoweth  the  Son  but  the  Father,  and  he  to  whom  the 
Father  shall  reveal  him.  From  the  recesses  of  that 
unapproachable  glory,  "  dark  with  excessive  light,"  pro- 
ceeds a  voice  which  syllables  the  sentence  dear  to  every 
penitent  and  thankful  soul,  "  God  so  loved  the  world 
that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son."  Here  are  tones 
which  cause  the  inmost  chords  of  humanity  to  vibrate. 

The  word  Son  carries  its  peculiar  touching  charm 
to  any  parental  heart.  An  "  only  Son,"  is  of  all  phrases 
that  which  wakes  affectionate  yearning  here  about  our 
sinful  hearths.  Faint  shadows  are  these  of  the  things 
in  heaven.  He  who  has  chosen  to  be  knovm  as  Father, 
has  chosen  to  reveal  the  eternal  Word  as  Son,  and  as 
"  the  Only-Begotten  of  the  Father."  Divine  paternity 
is  inscrutable.  Divine  love  is  as  far  above  human  love, 
as  God  is  above  the  creature.  Yet  we  were  made  in 
his  image,  in  order  to  know  a  little  of  his  heart ;  and 
the  sentiment,  though  vastly  unequal,  is  the  same  in  the 
points  intended  to  be  believed. 

God  gave  his  Son.  In  intention  and  decree  he 
gave  him.  In  covenant  he  gave  him.  Looking  on  man 
as  helplessly  fallen,  he  gave  him,  as  purposing  him  to 
be  man's  Saviour.  In  the  garden  of  Eden,  now  stained 
with  deadly  sin,  he  gave  him,  and  anticipated  the  words 
of  curse  by  words  of  blessing.  Throughout  the  tedi- 
ous tracts  of  the  long  Judaic  night,  when  clouds  and 
transient  rays  struggled  together,  in  a  coloured  haze  of 
types  and  vision,  he  gave  him,  the  Messiah  yet  to  come. 


SALVATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  FATHER.     ^g]^ 

But  fully  and  actually  and  with  transcendent  love  he 
gave  him,  when  the  Word  became  flesh  and  dwelt  among 
us,  full  of  grace  and  truth.  And  then,  consummating 
the  boon  of  eternal  destination,  he  gave  hun,  when, 
amidst  a  quaking  earth  and  a  shrouded  heaven,  it 
pleased  the  Lord  to  bruise  him,  when  his  sword  awoke 
against  the  Man  that  was  his  feUow ;  and  when  Justice, 
as  a  weapon  of  death,  steeped  itself  in  the  heart  of 
humanity  embraced  by  Godhead,  and  the  Holy  One, 
at  the  acme  of  his  dying  pangs,  cried.  It  is  fin- 
ished. 

The  thoughts  need  repose  after  such  a  contempla- 
tion. Sit  down,  oh  believer;  sit  down  with  the  beloved 
John,  and  with  the  Marys,  amidst  the  effusion  of  the 
water  and  the  blood,  and  tell,  if  you  can,  the  magnitude 
of  this  affection.  It  is  divine.  "  Herein  is  love,  not 
that  we  loved  God,  but  that  God  loved  us  and  gave  his 


Would  you  feel  it  more  ?  Look  in  that  other  direc- 
tion, to  the  damned  world.  Measure  the  sin  and  sorrow 
of  a  state  which  but  for  this  sacrifice  had  been  yours 
and  mine.  That  we  should  not  perish  but  have  eternal 
Hfe,  was  the  motive  of  this  gift.  Raise  your  eyes  to  that 
"  eternal  life,"  and  meditate  the  glory  and  the  bliss,  till 
you  somewhat  forget  the  seductive  pleasures  of  time. 
All  this  is  signified  by  the  gift  of  God's  only-begotten 
Son.  Once  more  turn  inward  and  attempt  an  estimate 
of  your  own  demerit.  "  God  commendeth  his  love  to 
us,  iQ  that,  while  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for 


182     SALVATION  TRACED  TO  GOt)  THE  FATHER. 

US  ! "  What !  still  unrelenting !  Are  no  gentle  affec- 
tions stirred  within  you,  this  day,  by  God's  chief  argu- 
ment ?  With  what  can  we  hope  to  move  you  ?  Be- 
hold here  the  hell  you  have  deserved  and  sought ;  the 
heaven  surpassing  your  most  adventurous  imagining ; 
the  Cross  of  Jesus,  where  the  just  God  becomes  the 
Saviour.  This  is  the  great  sight  which  has  melted  the 
hearts  of  all  generations  of  those  who  have  been  saved. 
And  I  have  yet  to  add,  if  I  would  not  withhold  the 
principal  theme  of  my  commission,  that  God  the 
Father  gives  the  Only-'Begotten  Son  this  day  in  the 
offer  of  the  Gospel.  To  you  is  the  word  of  this  sal- 
vation sent.  The  great  atoning  action  was  not  to  be 
concealed,  but  to  be  published  to  all  nations  for  the 
obedience  of  faith.  There  is  no  restriction.  To  whom 
do  I  hear  you  ask,  is  this  offer  tendered?  To  the 
world,  I  answer ;  to  all  who  hear  the  "  word  of  the 
truth  of  the  Gospel."  To  you  who  have  come  hither 
this  morning;  to  every  one  of  you;  from  the  hoary 
despiser  to  the  babe  who  only  begins  to  comprehend 
the  words.  By  whom  may  it  be  accepted  ?  By  sin- 
ners. "  This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all 
acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to 
save  sinners."  If  the  greatest  offender  of  aU  the  sons 
of  men  were  to  rise  revealed  as  such  in  this  assembly, 
I  am  authorised  to  address  him  as  included  in  this  invi- 
tation of  abounding  grace.  This  Gospel  was  preached 
first  at  Jerusalem,  and  made  known  to  those  who  cru- 
cified the  Lord  of  glory.     "  Therefore,"  cried  Peter  to 


SALVATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  FATHER.     3^33 

the  Pentecostal  multitude,  "  let  all  the  house  of  Israel 
(the  very  nation  which  had  committed  this  sin  of  sins) 
know  assuredly,  that  God  hath  made  this  same*  Jesus, 
whom  ye  have  crucified,  both  Lord  and  Christ."  The 
apostle's  declaration,  and  all  subsequent  preaching,  have 
held  forth  the  same  Gospel,  or  good  news  of  God's  love 
in  giving  his  Only-Begotten  Son,  By  this  alone  have 
perishing  souls,  in  aU  ages  of  the  dispensation  of  grace, 
obtained  eternal  life ;  and  the  profier  is  now  to  you. 
To  you,  my  hearer,  however  hardened  in  your  sins  and 
however  destitute  of  all  right  feehngs,  this  way  of  im- 
mediate escape  is  held  out.  The  fountain  which  burst 
forth  from  the  rock  smitten  at  Golgotha  continues  to 
follow  the  march  of  our  desert  pilgrimage;  and  the 
terms  are,  as  of  old,  "  Whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the 
water  of  Hfe  freely." 

Before  closing  the  service,  I  must  lay  before  you,  in 
few  words,  one  provision  of  my  text.  It  concerns  the 
mode  of  becoming  interested  in  this  gracious  gift  of 
God.  The  mode  is  by  believing;  "that  whosoever 
believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,"  etc.  Gospel  faith 
is  the  cordial  behoving  of  this  message.  Some  of  you, 
let  me  joyfidly  think,  have  already  believed,  do  now 
beheve.  Your  language  is,  "  This  is  my  beloved,  and 
this  is  my  friend.  He  found  me  fainting  in  the  wilder- 
ness. He  lifted  my  head.  He  spake  words  of  com- 
fort to  me.  He  strengthened  me  with  strength  in  my 
soul.  And  all  this  he  did  by  pouring  a  flood  of  light 
on  his  own  person  and  work,  by  making  this  great  ob- 


Ig4     SALVATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  FATHER. 

ject  stand  forth  prominent  and  luminous,  that  is,  by 
working  in  me  faith." 

But  there  are  others  whose  language  is,  "  Nothing 
is  more  mysterious  to  me  than  the  saving  character  of 
faith.  I  believe  these  truths ;  and  yet  I  find  no  rehef 
for  my  burden."  To  such  a  one  I  must,  in  all  respect 
and  love,  speak  a  word  of  contradiction.  No,  my 
anxious  hearer,  you  do  not  believe  the  Gospel.  Or,  at 
at  any  rate,  since  there  are  degrees  in  faith,  you  believe 
but  faintly.  You  have  been  looking  too  long  and  too 
much  at  self,  and  too  little  at  the  Saviour.  If  you  be- 
lieved that  God  so  loved  the  world,  you  would  see 
and  know  that  even  for  you  there  is  room  in  the  bosom 
of  infinite  Compassion.  If  you  believed  that  Christ 
Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  and  by  speci- 
fication, the  chief  of  sinners,  you  would  see  salvation 
brought  home  to  your  own  heart.  If  you  believed  that 
Grace  is  abounding,  free,  present,  made  over  by  gift  to 
just  such  as  you,  in  all  your  hardness  and  all  your 
guilt,  and  that  the  very  first  saving  act  is  that  of  acqui- 
escence in  this  gratuity,  you  would  gaze  with  wonder 
and  gratitude  on  the  pierced  hands  and  feet  and  the 
opened  side,  and  would  exclaim  with  Thomas,  My  Lord 
and  My  God  !  If  you  believed,  you  would  turn  away 
from  the  study  of  your  wi-etched  self,  and  being  all 
absorbed  in  another  object,  resplendent,  soul-entrancing 
and  divine,  would  joyfuUy  cry, "  God  forbid  that  I  should 
glory,  save  in  this."  And  it  is  just  because  you  still  re- 
fuse to  let  go  your  hold  of  something  within  you ;  be- 


SALVATION  TRACED  TO  GOD  THE  FATHER.     235 

cause  you  doubt  the  capacity  of  Christ's  love  to  embrace 
you  as  you  are ;  in  a  word,  because  you  do  not  beheve, 
that  you  persist  in  perishing  with  a  condemned  world. 
The  difficulty  does  not  He  in  any  want  of  atoning 
love  or  gracious  provision.  The  sacrifice  has  been 
made ;  it  is  infinitely  pleasing  to  God ;  it  is  accepted ; 
it  can  never  be  repeated ;  it  can  never  be  added  to  ;  it 
stands  before  the  universe  in  immutable,  consummate 
glory.  Nor  does  the  difficulty  he  in  the  nature  of  faith, 
as  though  it  were  comphcated,  mysterious,  or  unintelli- 
gible ;  it  is  one  of  the  very  simplest  actings  of  the  hu- 
man soul.  But  it  hes  in  this,  that  you  do  not  apprehend 
in  a  spiritual  manner  the  precious,  the  ever-blessed 
truth  to  be  beheved.  You  see  God  under  a  false  aspect, 
as  a  hard,  exacting  Lawgiver  and  a  relentless  Judge. 
You  look  on  Christ  as  coming  to  you  with  some  legal 
conditions  to  be  fulfilled  in  you,  before  He  can  be 
yours.  And  justly  conscious  that  such  conditions  are 
wanting  in  you,  you  stay  away  from  the  fountain  of  hfe, 
and  will  forever  stay  away,  tOl  the  Hght  of  God  dawns 
on  your  erring  mind.  Now,  my  sorrowing  friend  and 
hearer,  now  you  have  arrived  at  what  is  perhaps  a  critical 
point  in  your  history.  Will  you  flee  to  Jesus  Christ  to- 
day ?  Will  you  perish,  or  will  you  believe  ?  Whatever 
is  your  determination,  note  it  when  you  go  home ;  "  This 
day  I  have  chosen  Christ,"  or  "  This  day  I  have  rejected 
him."     Eor  it  is  noted  in  heaven. 


VIII. 


DYING   FOE    FRIENDS 


DYING  FOR  FRIENDS* 


John  xv.  13,  14. 


"  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life 
for  his  friends.  Ye  are  my  friends,  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I  com- 
mand yon." 

Friendship  is  a  sacred  word,  belonging  as  truly 
to  Christianity  as  to  morals.  It  is  such  a  relation  of 
man  to  man,  that  from  mutual  esteem,  admiration  and 
attachment,  rather  than  from  regard  to  interest,  each 
contemplates  the  person  of  the  other  with  complacency 
and  benevolence,  each  desires  the  welfare  of  the  other, 
and  dehghts  in  his  company  ;  and  consequently  each  is 
ready  to  fulfil  the  wishes  of  the  other  and  to  make  sa- 
crifices for  his  pleasure.  It  is  a  flowing  of  soul  to  soul. 
It  is — so  says  the  Roman  adage — to  will  and  to  refuse  the 
same  things.  Wretched  is  he,  who  cannot  go  to  expe- 
rience for  his  definition ;  for  "  poor  is  the  friendless 

*  New  York,  March  13, 1853. 


290  DYING  FOR  FRIENDS. 

master  of  a  world ! "  We  need  not  go  to  the  Damon 
and  Pythias  of  Gentile  story,  or  even  to  the  touching 
records  of  David  and  Jonathan  in  the  Old  Testament. 
The  Gospel  assures  us,  that  in  the  circle  around  our 
Lord,  there  was  one  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved,  friend- 
ship never  rose  to  so  sanctified  an  exaltation.  We  do 
well,  therefore,  against  certain  perverse  philosophers,  to 
include  friendship  among  the  Christian  virtues,  and  to 
practise  it  in  the  daily  intercourse  of  life.  Even  in 
common  society,  its  triumphs  are  sometimes  beautiful 
and  ennobling,  but  it  is  nowhere  so  pure  and  unearthly, 
as  where  it  subsists  between  souls  which  have  been 
touched  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  Then  it  is  a  fountain 
which  wells  forth  from  the  Cross  of  the  heavenly  Priend. 
But  we  are  this  day  to  ascend  a  yet  loftier  eminence, 
and  to  contemplate  a  friendship  which  exists  between 
Christ  and  the  believer.  The  word  seems  to  acquire  a 
new  and  heavenher  acceptation,  when  we  apply  it  to 
Him  who  is  above  aU  blessing  and  all  praise.  And 
this  we  shall  do,  in  meditating  on  the  delightful  words 
of  the  text. 

This  relation  then  of  friendship  is  sustained  by  the 
Lord  Jesus  to  his  people.  His  whole  hfe  was  a  series 
of  blessed  friendships.  There  are  no  pictures  of  at- 
tachment like  those  of  Bethany  and  the  upper  chamber. 
The  Twelve,  the  Seventy,  the  holy  women  who  compa- 
nied  with  him,  the  thousands  of  less  distinguished  dis- 
ciples, all  stood  to  him  in  the  relation  of  friends.  It 
was  not  merely  John,  who  reclined  on  his  bosom,  or 


DYING  FOR  FRIENDS.  IQJ 

James  and  Cephas  who  shared  his  more  sacred  re- 
tirements, or  Lazarus  whom  he  loved,  or  Mary  and 
Martha  who  ministered  to  him ;  but  all  who  hearkened 
to  his  words  and  sought  his  companionship.  He  was 
so  unlike  us  who  preach  his  gospel  in  degenerate  times, 
that  he  associated  visibly  and  at  the  banquets  of  the 
Pharisaic  great,  with  persons  who  had  lost  their  charac- 
ter, and  was  designated  as  the  friend  of  publicans  and 
sinners.  To  every  diversity  of  people  he  showed  him- 
self accessible ;  as  indeed  he  is,  still  the  most  accessible 
being  in  the  universe.  The  most  abject  offender  against 
purity  felt  reassured  by  his  forgiving  rebuke,  and  the 
very  leper  cast  out  of  human  habitations,  and  the  de- 
moniac haunting  tombs  and  charnel-houses,  ventured  to 
accost  him.  How  much  more  near,  and  delicate,  and 
solemn,  and  rapturous  must  have  been  the  interviews 
with  his  chief  disciples,  in  those  days  on  the  mountain 
and  on  the  plain,  when  thousands  swarmed  forth  from 
city  and  village,  and  spreading  themselves  on  the  green 
grass  were  fed  by  his  wonder-working  bounty,  and  his  yet 
more  marvellous  words ;  those  voyages  on  the  little  lake ; 
those  mighty  gatherings  on  Sabbath  evenings,  when  the 
synagogue  was  out  and  the  sun  was  going  down,  and  they 
came  flocking,  with  wives  and  children,  to  the  house 
where  he  was  guest,  and  spread  their  sick  and  dying  on 
the  earth  at  his  feet ;  those  evenings  during  the  high 
festivals,  when,  as  we  know,  he  did  not  tarry  in  the 
great  city,  but  pm^sued  his  quiet  path  among  olives, 
across  the  ravine  of  Kedron,  and  up  the  ascent  of 


192  DYING  FOR  FRIENDS. 

Olivet,  to  Bethany,  and  probably  to  the  house  of  Laza- 
rus ;  those  walks  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land,  in  which,  accompanied  by  eager  groups,  he  dis- 
coursed of  divine  counsels  and  things  of  the  kingdom. 
In  all  these  conjunctures  we  behold  him  the  friend,  in 
every  lofty  and  every  tender  acceptation  of  that  pregnant 
word.  All  who  accepted  him  were  his  friends.  He 
admitted  them  to  the  title  ;  he  treated  them  as  such. 
And  now  that,  in  his  human  nature,  he  is  no  more  on 
earth,  he  just  as  really  sustains  the  same  relation  to  all 
who  truly  beheve  on  him  and  partake  of  his  Spirit.  It 
is  this  sacred  alliance  which  is  brought  prominently  for- 
ward in  these  discourses  of  the  first  Communion  season. 
The  highest  proof  of  friendship  is,  when  friend, 
as  in  this  case,  dies  for  friend.  We  do  not  pause  for 
proof  of  this  proposition.  Children  understand  it ;  it 
siaks  into  the  deep  conviction  of  the  heart.  Death  is 
so  dread  an  evil,  that  all  a  man  hath  will  he  give  for 
his  life.  A  man  avlU  give  many  things  for  his  friend, 
vast  labours,  vast  possessions,  yea,  all  things,  before 
he  will  give  his  own  life.  Sometimes  we  find  one  will- 
ing to  give  the  hazard,  to  run  the  chance,  that  is,  to 
risk  life  for  a  friend ;  but  absolutely  and  without  re- 
prieve to  give  the  life,  is  a  different  matter.  We  do 
not  think  so  meanly  of  sanctified  human  nature  as  to 
disbelieve  it  possible.  Scripture  does  not  allege  that  it 
never  happened ;  Christ  does  not  allege  it.  We  beheve 
there  has  been  many  a  parent,  who,  on  fit  occasion, 
would  die  for  a  child,  many  a  wife  for  a  husband,  nay, 


DYING  FOR  FRIENDS.  293 

many  a  loyal  soldier  for  his  prince.  But  what  we  affirm 
is,  that  when  this  occurs,  it  is  the  indubitable  testimo- 
nial of  the  highest  love.  Other  marks  may  deceive, 
but  this  is  infalhble.  If  a  human  friend  had  died  for 
us,  we  should  cherish  his  memory  with  a  sentiment 
httle  short  of  idolatry  ;  for  we  cling  with  passion  and 
reverence  to  one  who  has  even  jeoparded  life  for  our 
sakes.  This,  then,  is  the  acknowledged  principle,  on 
which  the  Lord  Jesus  founds  that  which  he  has  to  say 
respecting  the  love  he  bears  to  his  disciples.  It  is  a 
matter  not  for  proof  but  meditation. 

The  amazing  truth  which  we  have  to  contemplate 
is,  that  this  conclusive  proof  of  attachment  Christ  actu- 
ally gave.  The  church  is  founded  on  the  fact,  that 
Christ  died  for  his  friends ;  he  made  them  friends  by 
dying  for  them ;  for  they  were  once  foes.  "  For  when 
we  were  yet  without  strength,  in  due  time  Christ  died 
for  the  ungodly.  For  scarcely  for  a  righteous  man  (or 
a  man  barely  just  and  upright)  wiU  one  die  ;  yet  perad- 
venture  for  a  good  man  (a  man  attaching  himself  to  us 
by  affectionate  kindness)  some  would  even  dare  to  die ;" 
unusual  as  is  the  spectacle,  a  rare  and  singular  instance 
might  be  found  in  the  lapse  of  ages ;  "  but  God  com- 
mendeth  his  love  toward  us,  in  that,  while  we  were  yet 
sinners,  Christ  died  for  us  !  "  It  is  the  great  lesson  of 
scripture  and  sacrament.  Has  it  become  a  weariness 
to  you  ?  Then  your  hearts  have  never  been  touched 
by  renewing  grace ;  you  have  never  sickened  at  the  evil 
of  sin,  you  have  never  rejoiced  mth  the  transport  of 
13 


194  DYING  FOR  FRIENDS. 

faith.  There  is  a  power  in  genuine  experience,  which 
freshens  the  oldest  doctrine  to  the  heart  of  the  behever, 
and  makes  him  come  back  to  these  truths  as  to  breasts 
of  consolation,  ever  new  with  the  sincere  milk  of  the 
word.  For  which  cause,  the  sacrament  that  sets  it 
forth,  so  far  from  losing  value  and  attraction  by  repeti- 
tion, is  sweetest  to  the  old  disciple  and  the  pilgrim  near 
his  journey's  end. 

The  death  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  his  people 
is  pronounced  by  divine  authority  to  be  the  grand  argu- 
ment of  his  love ;  and  they  feel  it  to  be  so.  Hence 
they  love  to  celebrate  it.  He  uttered  these  touching 
words  to  the  wondering  and  sorrowing  group,  just  be- 
fore the  great  event.  His  eyes  saw  what  was  hidden 
from  them.  He  was  already,  in  purpose  and  dedica- 
tion, a  sacrifice.  It  was  anticipated  as  a  glory :  "  Father, 
the  hour  is  come ;  glorify  thy  Son  ! "  Already,  as  the 
Lamb  of  God,  was  he  bound  with  cords  and  palpitating 
upon  the  altar ;  already  his  soul  was  troubled,  preparing 
for  "  the  strong  crying  and  tears"  of  the  awful  night. 
He  had  a  baptism  to  be  baptized  with,  and  was  strait- 
ened till  it  should  be  accomplished.  The  cup  which  his 
Father  was  giving  him  was  already  in  his  hands. 
When  he  spoke  of  dying  for  his  friends,  he  had  a  per- 
fect foresight  of  the  scenes  which  were  to  mark  the  next 
few  eventful  hours.  It  was  not  the  simple  article  of 
death,  the  bare  separation  of  soul  and  body  which  he 
contemplated.  He  saw  the  mysterious  shadow  of 
Gethsemane,  the  agony  and  bloody  sweat.     He  saw  the 


DYING  FOR  FRIENDS.  I95 

midnight  assault,  the  arrest,  the  hurrying  by  torchlight 
from  tribunal  to  tribunal,  the  cords,  the  scourging,  the 
robes  of  scorn,  the  insults  of  the  populace,  the  languor, 
the  exposure,  the  ignominy,  the  blasphemy,  the  crown  of 
thorns.  He  saw  the  accursed  tree,  the  nails,  the  spear, 
the  desertion,  the  blood  and  anguish,  the  complicated 
dying.  He  saw  this  to  be  a  substitution,  a  suffering 
for  others,  for  friends,  for  those  who  should  forsake  and 
deny  him,  for  millions  who  were  as  yet  his  enemies. 
A'nd  seeing  all  this,  he  said,  with  an  emphasis  which 
we  can  now  better  understand,  "  Greater  love  hath 
no  man  than  this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his 
friends." 

Let  our  powers  task  themselves  to  devise  a  testimo- 
nial of  love  which  shall  be  equivalent  to  this.  Reason 
and  imagination  are  at  once  baffled.  And  yet  we  do 
not  begin  to  apprehend  the  magnitude  of  the  Divine 
affection,  until  we  take  into  view  the  nature  of  Him 
who  evinces  it.  Man,  simple  man,  might  testify  great 
love,  aird  testify  it  by  voluntary  death,  by  death  un- 
merited, by  death  surrounded  with  every  aggravation 
of  torment  and  shame,  by  death  for  the  unworthy. 
This  would  be  affecting  and  sublime,  yet  only  finite  and 
comprehensible.  But,  as  we  love  to  sing,  and  to  sing 
without  emendation :  "  God  the  mighty  Maker  dies,  for 
man  the  creature's  sin!"  The  person  who  sustains 
this  suffering  is  a  Divine  Person.  It  is  the  infinite 
Jehovah  descending  to  take  the  place  of  the  rebel,  and 
to  subject  himself  to  penal  humiliation  and  agony. 


295  DYING  FOR  FRIENDS. 

This  is  the  great  fact  of  Christianity,  the  capital 
demonstration  of  the  Godhead.  Here  we  behold  more 
of  the  heart  of  God  than  in  aU  his  works  and  Word  be- 
side. Into  these  things  the  angels  desire  to  look  ;  and 
the  cherubic  emblems  hover  and  stoop  over  the  ark, 
bending  to  inspect  the  mystery  of  the  law  covered  by 
the  golden  propitiatory  and  the  mercy-seat  sprinkled 
with  divine  blood.  For  this  there  had  been  a  prepara- 
tion in  all  the  foregoing  economy  of  the  Old  Testament, 
from  the  sacrifice  of  Abel  to  the  Passover  they  had  just 
been  celebrating.  AU  altars  and  priesthood,  all  un- 
blemished victims  and  sprinkhng  of  blood,  every  sin- 
offering,  scape-goat,  basin  and  hyssop-branch,  whispered 
of  the  dying  love  that  was  to  come.  All  types  and 
emblems  foreshadowed  this  testimony  of  divine  friend- 
ship. There  has  been  a  reverberation  of  holy  echoes 
in  the  arches  of  all  temples,  betokening  the  descent  of 
divine  compassion.  The  fires  of  aU  combined  sacrifices 
have  been  going  up,  to  presignify  the  whole  burnt-offer- 
ing of  this  great  Day  of  Atonement,  in  which  the  sword 
of  God  is  to  awake  against  the  man  that  is  his  fellow, 
and  the  perfect  and  final  victim  go  up  in  the  flame  of 
unutterable  and  infinite  consecration.  Christ  dying  for 
the  ungodly  is  the  central  radiant  point,  at  once  of  di- 
vine dispensations,  of  the  world's  history,  of  gospel 
theology,  and  of  sound  experience.  Who,  by  searching, 
can  find  it  out !  Herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God, 
but  that  God  loved  us  !  And  it  is  all  that  we  "  may  be 
able  to  comprehend  with  all  saints  what  is  the  breadth 


DYING  FOR  FRIENDS.  2. 9  7 

and  length,  and  depth  and  height,  and  to  know  the  love 
of  Christ,  which  passeth  knowledge,  that  we  may  be 
filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God."  The  demonstration 
is  complete,  but  its  measures  are  unfathomable.  When 
we  would  know  how  much  Christ  loves  his  friends, 
our  only  reply  is  by  looking  to  the  Cross ;  but  we  must 
look  forever.  Though  we  come  again  and  again,  with 
the  concentrated  powers  of  all  human  minds,  we  cannot 
reach  the  mystery, "  the  breadth,  the  length,  the  height." 
"  Angels  that  hymn  the  Great  I  Am,  fall  down  and  vail 
before  the  Lamb."  It  is  reserved  for  the  heavenly 
state  to  launch  out  more  fully  into  the  ocean  of  inquiry, 
and  to  survey  the  unattainable  dimensions  of  such  a 
friendship  from  God  to  man. 

The  love  of  Christ  in  dying  for  sinners,  is  the 
ground  of  their  friendship  towards  him.  "We  love 
him  because  he  first  loved  us."  And  this  in  two  senses ; 
for  first,  if  he  had  not  loved  us  beforehand,  there  would 
be  no  grace  dispensed  to  work  these  affections  in  our 
hearts;  and  secondly,  it  is  the  consideration  of  this 
sovereign  and  abounding  love  which  awakens  these 
affections.  We  are  fully  aware  that  a  different  teach- 
ing, from  a  school  of  metaphysical  theology  now  near 
extinction,  has  been  heard  in  our  churches ;  but  among 
other  blessed  characteristics  of  the  late  Revival  of  Re- 
ligion, we  note  a  return  to  the  cathohc  experience  of  all 
Christian  ages,  in  regard  to  the  power  of  God's  love  in 
Christ  as  recognized  by  the  repentant  sinner.  "  The 
love  of  Christ  constraineth  us."     Here  is  the  spring- 


193  DYING  FOR  FRIENDS. 

head  of  all  true  religious  feeling.  Mistake  on  tliis  point 
may  be  disastrous.  General  views  of  the  divine  char- 
acter and  excellencies  may  produce  awe,  dread,  adora- 
tion, and  approval,  but  will  never^  enkindle  love.  The 
friends  of  Christ  are  made  such  by  contemplating  his 
love,  and  especially  by^  acts  of  faith  directed  toward  his 
Cross.  O  that  I  knew  how  to  treat  this  subject  aright ! 
Perhaps  it  wiU  be  safest  to  turn  aside  from  the  beaten 
track  of  a  merely  doctrinal  theology,  and  make  an  im- 
mediate appeal  to  the  experience  of  the  new  creature. 

Take  a  view,  then,  first,  of  the  soul  unrenewed  by 
grace.  And  let  us  not  choose  for  one  instance  any  ex- 
treme case  of  wickedness  or  unbelief,  but  one  of  those 
gospel  hearers  who  fill  our  assemblies  and  are  some- 
what instructed  in  the  elements  of  religion.  Let  it 
even  be  one  who  is  not  totally  indifferent  to  the  things 
of  another  world.  But  he  is,  nevertheless,  as  yet  un- 
reconciled. Often  does  he  endeavour,  in  thought,  to 
present  to  his  view  the  sublime  idea  of  the  Great  Su- 
preme. Yet,  if  he  makes  frank  confession,  the  thought 
is  not  pleasing.  He  is  overshadowed  and  weighed 
down  by  the  conception  of  one  so  high,  inflexible,  and 
distant.  The  spirituality  of  God  overwhelms  him ;  ho- 
liness dazzles  and  humbles ;  inexorable  justice  terrifies. 
The  startling  truth  perpetually  reappears,  that  this  pure 
and  mighty  Jehovah  is  his  enemy.  The  distance  seems 
a  gulf  which  cannot  be  transcended.  Efforts  at  obedi- 
ence and  reform  recoil  in  a  sense  of  incapacity  and 
gmlt.     There  is  no  inward  view  of  the  way  in  which 


DYING  FOR  FRIENDS.  ^99 

God  can  be  just,  and  yet  justify  the  ungodly.  These 
are  among  the  most  wretched  moments  of  hfe.  Often 
does  he  turn  away  from  the  subject  because  it  increases 
pain,  reveals  sin,  and  awakens  enmity.  As  often  is  he 
reluctantly  drawn  back  by  the  unwelcome  fascination 
of  the  awful  verities.  Thus  it  is  with  many  during  the 
tedious  night  of  legal  conviction.  They  seem  to  grow 
worse  rather  than  better.  They  are  under  the  Law, 
and  the  law  worketh  wrath.  Condemnation  increases ; 
for,  *'  by  the  Law  is  the  knowledge  of  sin."  It  is  far 
more  distressing  than  the  former  state  of .  carelessness ; 
into  which,  indeed,  the  sinner  vainly  and  madly  tries  to 
return.  No  ray  of  benign  compassion  breaks  through 
the  cloud  of  justice  which  envelopes  the  throne  of  the 
Infinite  Majesty.  No  tender  melting  views  of  sin  dis- 
solve the  heart,  which  seems  harder  than  before,  and 
sullen  in  its  unloving  discontent.  No  approaches  to 
God  as  a  Father  sweeten  the  acts  of  a  constrained  de- 
votion. 

But  after  a  while  a  signal  change  is  experienced. 
This  same  soul,  disheartened  at  the  sight  of  its  own 
turpitude  and  illdesert,  and  appalled  by  the  view  of 
divine  perfections,  is  led  by  grace  to  contemplate  a  new 
object,  and  to  turn  its  regards  to  the  person  and  work 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  sinner  forgets '  himself 
for  a  little,  while  he  gazes  on  this  unparalleled  exhibition 
of  divine  love.  He  beholds  God  descending  in  human 
nature,  to  become  the  sacrifice  and  the  priest.  He 
sees  the  immaculate  Redeemer  dying  on  the  cross  for 


200  DYING  FOR  FRIENDS. 

the  sin  of  man.  He  recognizes  an  atonement  and 
satisfaction  to  justice,  sufficient  to  obliterate  tlie  guilt 
of  all  mankind.  He  opens  his  heart  to  the  Eriend  of 
sinners.  He  perceives  that  the  whole  work  of  redemp- 
tion is  out  of  himself,  and  independent  not  only  of  his 
obedience  but  of  all  his  feelings  and  exercises ;  and  that 
the  salvation  thus  complete  is  offered  and  made  over  to 
sinners  and  to  him,  just  as  he  is,  without  any  prelimi- 
nary qualification.  Now,  for  the  first  time,  he  is  struck 
with  the  sovereignty  of  uncaused  love.  It  is  nothing 
in  him,  or  his  state  of  mind,  but  all  in  this  act  and 
demonstration  of  heavenly  friendship.  He  owns  with 
wonder  the  freeness  of  the  salvation.  He  can  no  longer 
deny  that  it  is  for  him,  now,  this  moment,  on  his  acqui- 
escence and  acceptance.  The  chief  of  sinners  may 
come.  God  loves  the  chief  of  sinners  ;  the  proof  is  in 
the  Cross ;  the  proffer  is  in  the  Gospel ;  his  bonds  are 
loosed ;  his  self-righteousness  is  left  behind ;  and  be- 
fore he  is  aware  his  sinking  soul  is  lifted  in  the  arms  of 
the  Son  of  God,  and  his  tears  are  wiped  away  by  the 
pierced  hands.  Now,  now,  he  exclaims,  I  perceive  the 
truth  which  I  have  heard  and  repeated  a  thousand*' 
times.  God  is  love  1  and  love  to  me !  God  forbid 
that  I  should  glory,  save  in  the  Cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ !  He  is  a  believer,  and  while  he  believes  he 
loves.  He  sees  the  things  that  are  freely  given  him  of 
God.  He  understands  what  is  meant  by  salvation 
without  money  and  without  price.  God  is  no  longer  a 
taskmaster  and  a  judge,  but  a  merciful  and  reconciled 


DYING  FOR  FRIENDS.  201 

Father,  tlirougli  Clirist  Jesus.  He  is  astonished  to  ob- 
serve, that  all  along,  during  his  whole  protracted  strug- 
gle, this  infinite  love  has  been  equally  free  and  equally 
ofiered ;  that  God  was  willing,  but  he  was  umvilling ; 
and  he  adores  the  grace  which  waited  for  his  delay. 
Unutterable  is  his  grateful  attachment  to  Jesus  his 
Saviour,  who  is  now  the  chiefest  among  ten  thousands. 
He  is  the  friend  of  Christ ;  no  longer  a  servant  but  a 
son ;  and  from  this  moment  onward  he  lives  a  new  life, 
by  faith  in  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  him  and  gave 
himself  for  him.  Thus  the  love  of  Christ,  as  dying  for 
sinners,  is  the  ground  of  their  friendship  toward  the 
Redeemer. 

There  remains  an  important  truth  to  be  considered : 
the  true  and  certain  test  of  being  the  friends  of  Christ, 
is  obedience  to  his  precepts.  "  Ye  are  my  friends,  if  ye 
do  whatsoever  I  command  you."  It  is  not  profession, 
my  brethren,  which  makes  the  Christian.  When  Nao- 
mi had  her  afiecting  interview  with  her  two  daughters, 
"  Orpah  kissed  her  mother-in-law,  but  Ruth  clave  unto 
her."  On  this  very  paschal  evening  Simon  Peter  was 
louder  in  profession  than  John ;  and  if  Peter's  character 
had  been  always  no  other  than  during  the  denial,  he 
would  have  been  only  a  hypocrite.  You  cannot  quarrel 
with  this  test.  It  is  reasonable,  it  is  incontestible. 
The  proof  of  Love  afforded  by  obedience  is  triumphant. 
Good  works  are  not  our  passport  to  heaven  in  the  way 
of  merit,  but  they  are  the  infalhble  fruits  of  faith,  and 
so  the  best  criterion  of  attachment  to  the  Lord. 


202 


DYING  FOR  FRIENDS. 


The  operation  of  this  principle  is  not  abstruse  or 
recondite.  We  recognize  its  influence  in  the  httle  child 
who  does  what  is  bidden  out  of  love  to  the  parent ;  in 
every  act  of  comphance  or  service  that  proceeds  from 
common  friendship.  But  it  rises  to  its  highest  achieve- 
ments in  the  grateful  affection  of  the  beUever  to  the 
crucified  Redeemer.  That  dying  love  works  wonders 
and  constrains  obedience.  Recur  to  the  tender  in- 
stance, when  John  and  Mary  stood  at  the  foot  of  the 
accursed  tree,  gazing  intently  on  the  Son  of  God  in  his 
last  pangs.  "  When  Jesus,  therefore,  saw  his  mother^ 
and  the  disciple  standing  by  whom  he  loved,  he  saith 
unto  his  mother,  Woman,  behold  thy  Son !  Then  saith 
he  to  the  disciple.  Behold  thy  mother!"  Can  we 
doubt  the  result?  Love  wrought  obedience.  "Prom 
that  hour,"  that  hour  of  love  and  death,  "  that  disciple 
took  her  unto  his  own  home."  And  when  the  sacred 
body,  devoid  of  life,  was  lifted  from  the  cross  and  made 
ready  for  burial,  and  when  the  holy  women  and  such 
friends  as  had  not  fled  looked  on  the  heavenly  counte- 
nance of  One  who  had  loved  them  unto  the  end,  charg- 
ing upon  their  own  sins  the  awful  event  and  expiation, 
do  you  need  argument  to  convince  yau  that  they  felt 
bound  forever  to  obey  his  highest  wish  ?  All  the  way 
down  through  the  ages  of  faith,  this  love  has  acted  itself 
out  in  obedience.  Every  behever  owns  in  his  inmost 
heart,  that  he  lies  under  an  obhgation  to  surrender  all 
to  Him  who  died  for  him ;  as  one  redeemed  not  with 
corruptible  things,  such  as  silver  and  gold,  but  with  the 


DYING  FOR  FRIENDS.  203 

blood  of  Christ  as  of  a  lamb  without  spot  or  blemish. 
Ye  are  not  your  own ;  ye  are  bought  with  a  price. 
"  Henceforth,"  says  Paul,  "  let  no  man  trouble  me,  for 
I  bear  in  my  body  the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 

More  need  not  be  said  as  to  the  certain  efficacy  of 
the  principle ;  but  a  word  is  necessary  as  to  the  extent 
of  the  obedience.  It  is  universal.  "Whatsoever  I 
command  you ; "  that  is,  all  my  commands.  In  this 
life,  the  obedience,  indeed,  is  never  perfect  as  to  its  acts 
and  the  details  of  duty,  "  for  in  many  things  we  offend 
all."  Yet  it  is  universal  in  its  purpose  or  intention. 
True  love,  taking  its  origin  from  the  Cross,  does  not 
discriminate  and  select,  does  not  prepare  for  some  du- 
ties and  refuse  others,  but  girds  itself  for  all.  And  this 
tendency  of  the  will  is  a  better  evidence  of  grace  than 
any  or  all  particularities  of  performance.  Friendship 
to  Christ  perpetually  utters  this  language  :  I  will  hear 
what  God  the  Lord  will  speak.  Lord,  what  wilt  thou 
have  me  to  do  ?  I  will  perform  whatsoever  my  dying 
Saviour  has  commanded.  I  have  sworn  and  I  will 
perform  it,  that  I  will  keep  all  thy  commandments. 
He  therefore  who  speaks  thus,  I  will  obey  up  to  a  cer- 
tain point  and  there  I  wiU  stop  short,  is  not  the  friend 
of  Christ.  He  who  says,  I  will  keep  the  command- 
ments at  large,  but  this  or  that  commandment  I  wiU 
not  keep,  is  not  the  friend  of  Christ.  He  who  whispers 
to  himself,  I  wiR  be  pure  in  aU  things  else,  but  this  one 
secret,  cherished,  easily-besetting,  darling  sin,  I  will  not 
relinquish,  is  not  the  friend  of  Christ.     The  true  dis- 


204  DYING  FOR  FRIENDS. 

ciple  abandons  in  purpose  and  endeavour  all  known 
transgression.  And  if  we  turn  our  thoughts  inward  to 
find  one  particular  exercise  in  which  more  of  true  re- 
ligion is  concentrated  than  in  all  others,  we  shall  dis- 
cover none  more  certain  than  this,  the  absolute  unselfish 
oblation  of  the  whole  man — mind,  heart,  and  will — as  a 
sacrifice  to  Christ,  out  of  thankful  regard  to  his  dying 
love.  And  when,  as  is  sometimes  our  privilege,  we 
stretch  forth  our  hands  to  the  bread  and  the  wine  at 
the  Lord's  Table,  and  rely  on  that  broken  body  and  shed 
blood  for  our  justification,  the  faith  thus  exercised  is 
inseparably  connected  with  a  solemn  act  of  self-renoun- 
cing and  unreserved  dedication  to  the  holy  will  of  our 
redeeming  God.  This  is  the  Hving  sacrifice,  the  reason- 
able service,  with  which  God  is  well  pleased.  To  keep 
back  any  thing  is  to  deny  our  Lord.  He  asks  only  the 
heart ;  but  he  asks  it  aU.  And  in  gracious  souls  he  has 
it.  It  is  his.  He  has  bought  it  with  his  Cross  and 
Passion,  and  carries  it  away  in  triumph ;  embracing  in 
almighty  arms  the  ransomed  one,  who  desires  no  other 
Master,  and  is  happy  to  be  borne  away  captive  by  Him, 
whose  commandments  are  not  grievous,  whose  yoke  is 
light,  and  whose  service  is  freedom. 


IX. 


THE    BLOOD    OP    SPEINKLING. 


THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING.' 


Hebeews  xii.  24. 


"  The  blood  of  sprinkling,  that  speaketh  better  things  than  that 

of  Abel." 

The  Old  Testament  is  to  some  Christians  almost  a 
sealed  book,  especially  in  those  parts  which  treat  of  the 
rites  and  ordinances  pertaining  to  the  tabernacle  and 
temple.  But  this  is  an  inferior  stage  in  religious 
knowledge  and  experience,  and  should  not  be  willingly 
rested  in.  After  having  obtained  a  just  view  of  Christ 
as  Mediator,  from  the  clear  representations  of  the  New 
Testament,  we  go  back  to  the  system  of  Levitical 
types,  and  find  it  all  there.  It  would  be  but  an  imper- 
fect, undeveloped  scheme  of  salvation,  which  should  be 
derived  from  the  New  Testament  without  the  Old.  In- 
deed, the  New  constantly  assumes  and  paraphrases  the 

*  New  York,  January  15, 1857. 


208  '^H^  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING. 

Old;  and  many  of  the  most  precious  Gospel  declara- 
tions of  Christ  and  the  Apostles  would  be  unintelligible 
hieroglyphics,  without  the  key  of  Moses.  It  is  the 
manner  of  these  great  teachers  to  express  spiritual, 
gracious  and  eternal  things  in  terms  of  the' temple  and 
the  altar ;  and  this  in  conformity  with  a  system,  planned 
from  the  beginning,  in  which  all  the  type  and  symbol 
of  the  Mosaic  economy  is  a  preparation  for  the  clear 
light  of  the  latter  day.  Those,  therefore,  are  the  most 
deeply  taught  and  richly  experienced  believers,  who, 
after  having  learnt  the  simple  principles  of  evangelical 
truth  in  the  New  Testament,  go  back  with  them  to  the 
Old  Testament,  and  behold  a  hundredfold  more  beauty 
and  majesty  in  the  same  truths  as  arrayed  in  the  forms 
and  laws  of  the  Jewish  service.  In  our  endeavour,  then, 
to  find  the  Cross  in  the  Holy  of  HoHes,  and  the  Gospel 
in  those  smoking  altars,  we  have  our  best  aid  in  the  Epis- 
tle to  the  Hebrews,  which  might  be  named  a  Key  to 
the  Tabernacle,  or  the  Old  Testament  explained  by  the 
New.  The  theology  which  results  from  such  studies  is 
diametrically  opposed  to  that  of  the  metaphysical  and 
sentimental  school,  who  cite  little  scripture,  and  almost 
ignore  the  gorgeous  pageantry  of  the  old  priestly  service. 
Though  a  distempered  fancy  may  here,  as  elsewhere, 
work  mischief,  these  rites,  which  fill  so  much  space  in 
the  Pentateuch,  admit  of  an  application  much  more 
detailed  than  is  commonly  enjoyed ;  and  under  ApostoHc 
guidance  we  shall  do  well  to  make  ourselves  largely  ac- 
quainted with  this  neglected  mine  of  truth. 


THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING.  209 

Even  cursory  readers  perceive  the  striking  parallel 
between  the  bloody  offerings  of  the  temple  and  the 
oblation  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ;  but 
few  have  taken  pains  to  trace  out  the  analogies,  latent 
in  the  particular  parts  of  sacrificial  work,  every  one  of 
which  casts  light  upon  the  doctrine  of  redemption.  At 
such  a  season  as  this,  when  every  eye  ought  to  be  bent 
towards  the  atoning  Lamb,  we  shall  do  well  to  enter 
somewhat  into  the  more  concealed  significancy  of  this 
ceremonial,  for  the  wine  of  sacred  truth  does  not  yield 
itself  without  pressure,  and  the  honeycomb  of  grace 
requires  its  laden  cells  to  be  broken. 

Consider  with  me,  for  a  very  few  moments,  the 
several  steps  which  belonged  to  a  regular  and  complete 
sacrifice,  under  the  Aaronic  liturgy.*  First,  there  was 
the  selection  of  a  suitable,  unblemished  animal,  as  the 
victim ;  let  us  say  a  lamb  from  the  flock.  This  reminds 
us  at  once  of  the  Divine  election  of  the  Only-Begotten 
Son,  as  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sins  of 
the  world.  Secondly,  the  innocent  creature  was  sol- 
emnly presented,  for  this  peculiar  purpose,  near  the 
door  of  the  tabernacle.  Answerable  to  this  is  the 
actual  appearance  of  the  Incarnate  Son,  in  human  na- 
ture, and  especially  his  solemn  separation  and  oblation 
of  himself,  the  priest  and  victim  being  in  this  case  one 
and  the  same.  Thirdly,  we  behold  a  most  imposing 
ceremony :  the  sinner  who  offers  sacrifice  lays  his  hands 

*  AfiTovpyla,    Heb.  ix.  21  et  al.  locis. 
14 


210  THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING. 

upon  the  head  of  the  animal,  confessing  his  sins.  In 
the  parallel  instance  of  the  scapegoat,  the  high  priest  is 
said  to  "  put  the  sins  of  the  congregation  on  the  head 
of  the  goat."  Jewish  writers  record  the  words  with 
which  this  imposition  of  hands  was  sometimes  accom- 
panied :  "  I  beseech  thee,  0  Lord,  I  have  sinned,  I 
have  done  perversely,  I  have  rebelled,  I  have  done  so 
and  so  (mentioning  the  transgression) ;  but  now  I  re- 
pent, and  let  this  victim  be  my  expiation  1 "  Who  does 
not  recognize  in  this  the  sinner  under  the  Gospel,  who, 
with  clearer  views,  comes  not  to  the  visible  but  the 
invisible  altar ;  not  to  the  son  of  Aaron,  but  the  son  of 
David  and  Son  of  God ;  laying  his  hands  not  on  the 
lamb  of  the  perishable  flock,  but  on  the  head  of  the 
divine  sacrifice,  and  saying,  "  I  have  sinned,  I  have  done 
perversely,  I  have  rebelled ;  let  this  victim  be  my  expia- 
tion !  "  So  closely  did  the  Hebrew  connect  this  cere- 
mony with  the  acknowledgment  of  guilt,  that  it  grew 
into  a  maxim,  "  Where  there  is  no  imposition  of  hands, 
there  is  no  confession."  They  were  equally  accustomed 
to  regard  this  laying  on  of  hands  as  symbolically  re- 
moving the  guilt  of  sins  from  the  sinner  to  the  sacrifice. 
That  which  the  Israelitish  worshipper  did,  long  before 
the  Great  Sacrifice  on  Calvary,  and  even  before  the 
slaying  of  his  own  typical  offering,  the  Christian  peni- 
tent now  does  by  an  act  of  faith,  looking  back  to  the  ob- 
lation made  once  for  all  by  the  Lord  Jesus.  And  every 
time  he  casts  the  eye  of  beheving  towards  his  hum- 
bled, scourged,  buffeted,  bleeding,  crucified  Saviour,  he 


THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING.  211 

lays  his  hands  anew  upon  the  sacred  Lamb,  saying, 
Let  this  victim  be  my  expiation !  Fourthly,  the  sac- 
rifice was  slain,  and  consumed  (sometimes  wholly), 
upon  the  altar.  This  was  the  great  atoning  act. 
Here  is  blood  for  blood,  and  life  for  life.  The  basis  of 
all  its  significancy  is  laid  down,  Lev.  xvii.  11 :  "  For  the 
life  of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood ;  and  I  have  given  it  to 
you  upon  the  altar,  to  make  an  atonement  for  your 
souls :  for  it  is  the  blood  that  maketh  an  atonement 
for  the  soul;  "or  as  some  render  it,  "for  the  blood 
atoned  through  the  soul."  It  is  not  the  matter  of  the 
blood  which  atones,  but  the  soul  or  life  which  resides  in 
it ;  so  that  the  soul  of  the  ofiered  victim  atones  for  the 
soul  of  the  offering  penitent.  In  the  imperfect  but 
most  speaking  representation  of  type,  the  sacrifice  of 
the  innocent  symbolic  substitute  goes  up  to  God  in  the 
smoke  of  the  bunit-offering,  a  sweet-smelling  savour — 
if  we  may  borrow  another  phrase  from  the  vocabulary 
of  Moses — a  token  and  a  pledge  that  the  satisfaction  is 
not  only  ofiered  but  accepted.  It  is  by  that  which  is 
here  represented,  to  wit,  by  the  self-oblation  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  the  breach  between  heaven  and 
earth  is  made  up ;  and  so  far  as  the  efiicacy  of  the 
atonement  is  concerned,  the  work  is  complete  and  can 
never  be  repeated.  All  other  pretended  sacrifices, 
bloody  or  unbloody,  are  profane  mockeries  and  insult- 
ing disparagements  of  that  sacrifice  of  Himself,  "  once 
for  aU,"  which  terminated  when  Jesus  cried,  "It  is 
finished ! "    Pifthly,  and  last  in  the  order  of  sacrificial 


212  THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING. 

action,  was  the  sprinkling  of  blood,  to  which  your 
attention  is  more  particularly  called,  as  involved  in  the 
text,  and  as  full  of  meaning  appropriate  to  tliis  ordi- 
nance. Aspersion  or  sprinkhng  is  a  symbolical  act 
employed  with  both  water  and  blood.  The  sprinkhng 
of  water  is  a  token  of  symbolical  cleansing,  and  is  just 
as  valid  for  this  purpose,  as  if  the  whole  body  were 
washed  by  plentiful  affusion  or  immersion,  otherwise  it 
would  not  have  been  so  largely  employed  in  the  ritual 
language  of  the  Old  Testament.  To  sprinkle  is  to 
cleanse.  Mark,  therefore.  Lev.  xiv.  T,  when  a  leper 
was  to  be  purified :  "  And  he  shall  sprinkle  upon  him 
that  is  to  be  cleansed  from  the  leprosy  seven  times,  and 
shall  pronounce  him  clean''  As  soon  as  he  was  thus 
bedewed,  his  consciousness  responded,  "Now  I  am 
ceremonially  clean."  It  was  to  carry  home  this  con- 
sciousness that  the  act  was  ordained.  Among  the 
"  divers  washings,"  (baptisms,*)  we  may  confidently 
enumerate  what  took  place  in  the  consecration  of  the 
Levites,  Numb.  viii.  Observe  how  they  were  cleansed : 
"  Take  the  Levites  from  among  the  children  of  Israel, 
and  cleanse  them.  And  thus  shalt  thou  do  unto  them 
to  cleanse  them,  SprinJcle  water  of  purifying  upon 
them,"  etc.  In  another  instance,  where  ceremonial  de- 
filement was  contracted,  a  clean  person  was  to  take 
hyssop  and  dip  it  in  water,  and  sprinkle  it  upon  the 
tent  and  inmates ;   all  which  prepared  the  Hebrew 

*  Aia<}>6poi5  ^atmarfxois.     Heb.  ix.  10. 


THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING.  213 

people  for  compreliending  such  language  as  that  of  God 
by  the  prophet :  "  Then  will  I  sprinkle  clean  water 
upon  you  and  ye  shall  be  clean ;  from  all  your  filthi- 
ness  and  from  all  your  idols  will  I  cleanse  you/'  Ezek. 
xxxvi.  25.  In  all  these  cases,  whether  in  symbol  or 
reality,  there  was  conveyed  to  the  soul  a  divine  purifica- 
tion and  a  sense  of  it. 

Now,  if  we  turn  from  the  application  of  baptismal 
water  to  the  apphcation  of  sacrificial  blood,  we  shall  ob- 
serve the  analogy  hold  good,  and  shall  see  the  rite  con- 
ve3dng  to  the  sinner  a  consciousness  of  acceptance  with 
God.  In  regard  to  God,  the  slaying  and  oblation  was 
enough :  in  regard  to  man,  the  blood  must  be  sprin- 
kled. God  might  be  appeased,  and  yet  the  sinner  might 
be  destitute  of  any  pledge  that  it  was  so.  Hence  the 
importance  of  the  seal ;  just  as  in  our  day  the  impor- 
tance of  sacramental  sealings,  in  regard  to  acts  long 
since  consummated.  "  This  sprinkling  of  blood  was  by 
much  the  most  sacred  part  of  the  entire  service,  since 
it  was  that  by  which  the  hfe  and  soul  of  the  victim 
were  considered  to  be  given  to  God  as  supreme  Lord 
of  Ufe  and  death;  for  what  was  placed  upon  the 
altar  of  God  was  supposed,  according  to  the  rehgion  of 
the  Jews,  to  be  rendered  to  him."  *  But  the  same 
typical  sprinkhng  reaches  the  offerer  and  sometimes 
the  whole  congregation,  in  token  of  their  participation 
in  the  finished  work.     Those  who  honour  God's  Old 

*  Outram  on  Sacrifice. 


214  THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRIKKLINa 

Testament  lessons  will  not  turn  away  from  a  short  ex- 
amination of  several  cases  as  prescribed  in  tlie  Law. 

In  the  cleansing  of  one  who  had  been  afflicted  with 
leprosy,  after  the  slaying  of  one  of  the  two  sacrificial 
birds,  the  priest  was  to  dip  hyssop  (among  other  things) 
in  the  blood,  and  sprinkle  npon  the  leper  seven  times. 
Lev.  xiv.  This  is  a  very  simple  and  very  striking  ser- 
vice, in  which  the  sprinkling  of  blood  is  used  for  puri- 
fication. 

But  greatly  more  solemn  is  the  next  case,  Lev.  xvi., 
in  which  the  method  is  detailed  in  which  the  high 
priest,  once  in  the  year,  on  the  great  day  of  Atonement, 
shall  enter  into  the  Holy  of  holies.  A  bullock,  as  one 
of  the  nobler  animals,  is  slain  and  laid  on  the  altar. 
Then,  verse  14,  "  he  shall  take  of  the  blood  of  the  bul- 
lock and  sprinkle  it  with  his  finger  upon  the  mercy-seat 
eastward,  and  before  the  mercy-seat  shall  he  sprinkle  of 
the  blood  with  his  finger  seven  times."  The  mercy- 
seat,  or,  far  more  properly,  the  propitiatory,  was  the 
awful  centre  of  the  shrine,  displaying  its  golden  efful- 
gence above  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and  just  beneath 
the  covering  wings  of  the  overshadowing  cherubim. 
To  sprinkle  the  blood  here,  was  to  bring  it  to  the  throne 
of  Jehovah,  amidst  the  blaze  of  the  Shekinah,  unap- 
proachable save  by  the  typical  Mediator.  It  was  to 
declare  before  Infinite  Justice,  that  the  satisfaction  was 
complete,  by  venturing  even  there  with  that  which  was 
the  life  and  soul  of  the  sacrifice.  This  is  blood  which 
"  speaks."     The  apostle  Paul  refers  to  this,  Heb.  ix.  18, 


THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING.  £15 

"For  when  Moses  had  spoken  every  precept  to  the 
people  according  to  the  law,  he  took  the  blood  of  calves 
and  of  goats,  with  water  and  scarlet  wool,  and  hyssop, 
and  sprinkled  both  the  book  and  all  the  people,  say- 
ing. This  is  the  blood  of  the  testament  which  God  hath 
enjoined  unto  you :  *  moreover,  he  sprinkled  with 
blood  both  the  tabernacle  and  all  the  vessels  of  the 
ministry.  And  almost  all  things  are  by  the  law  purged 
with  blood,  and  without  shedding  of  blood  is  no  remis- 
sion." And  after  these  striking  words,  the  apostle  goes 
on  to  show,  that  all  this  was  done  in  antitype  and  real- 
ity, when  our  glorious  High  Priest  entered  into  the 
heavenly  places,  to  present  the  merit  of  his  own  most 
precious  blood-shedding.  As  the  whole  virtue  of  the 
sacrifice  resided  in  the  life,  which,  as  we  have  above 
cited,  was  in  the  blood,  the  solemn  presentation  of  the 
blood  was  a  sign  that  the  oblation  was  complete ;  and 
the  sprinkling  of  it  on  sinners  was  a  token  to  them  that 
the  guilt  of  their  sins  was  remitted.  We  have  dwelt 
thus  long  upon  an  external  rite,  which  many  pass  over 
as  insignificant,  because  this  is  God's  own  method  of 
conveying  to  us,  in  the  most  lively  and  impressive  man- 
ner, the  cardinal  truth  of  propitiation  and  pardon. 
This,  then,  is  that  "  blood  of  sprinkling,"  spoken  of  in 
the  text. 

The  way  is  now  open  to  us  to  inquire.  How  the 
BLOOD  OF  Christ,  the  great  antitype,  "  speaketh 

*  Compare  Luke  xii  20. 


216  THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING. 

BETTER   THINGS    THAN    THAT    OF   AbEL."      Words  need 

not  be  multiplied  in  exposition  of  the  clause.  The 
blood  of  Abel  spake  dreadful  things,  when  God  said  to 
Cain,  "  The  voice  of  thy  brother's  blood  crieth  unto  me 
from  the  ground."  It  was  vocal  with  wrath.  It  ut- 
tered the  echo  of  God's  vindicatory  indignation  against 
fratricide.  It  was  the  first  human  bloodshed,  and  an 
event  fitted  to  strike  by  comparison  and  contrast. 
Now,  in  this  view,  1.  The  blood  of  Jesus  speaks  atone- 
ment, satisfaction,  and  access  to  God's  favour.  And 
this  it  specially  does  as  sprinkled  or  exhibited  in  the 
sight  of  the  Supreme  Majesty.  It  must  have  been  an 
hour  of  breathless  interest  and  expectation,  when  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  Israel,  gathered  on  that  high 
day  in  the  tabernacle  court,  followed  with  their  eyes 
the  high  priest  in  his  pontifical  array,  with  the  graven 
jewels  and  names  on  his  breast,  as  with  stately  mien 
and  profound  awe  he  passed  towards  the  sacred  tent, 
bearing  in  his  hands  the  blood  of  the  altar,  and  then, 
lost  within  the  curtains,  advanced  to  the  invisible  recess 
of  hidden  glory.  But  the  gospel  shows  us  something 
more  august  than  this  shadow.  "  For  Christ  is  not  en- 
tered into  the  holy  places  made  with  hands,  which  are 
the  figures  of  the  true,  but  into  heaven  itself,  now  to 
appear  in  the  presence  of  God  for  us.  Nor  yet  that  he 
should  offer  himself  often,  as  the  high  priest  entereth 
into  the  holy  place  every  year  with  blood  of  others ;  but 
now  once  in  the  end  of  the  world  hath  he  appeared,  to 
put  away  sin,  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself."     The  sprin- 


THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING. 


217 


IJing  of  typical  blood,  in  regard  to  God,  declared  that 
sin  was  atoned  for,  and  that  a  way  was  opened  for  sin- 
ners into  the  Hohest  of  all.  This  sprinkling  was  ac- 
complished when  the  Lord  Jesus,  by  the  blood  of  the 
everlasting  covenant,  made  solemn  entrance  into  heaven, 
in  the  name  of  his  people,  and  when — ^if  I  may  use  Le- 
vitical  expressions,  famihar  to  the  Gospel,  and  provided 
for  this  very  end — he  drew  near  to  the  primeval  and 
real  mercy-seat  in  heaven,  and  there  left  traces  of  his 
own  divine  blood,  as  though  he  said,  "  I  have  finished 
the  work  which  thou  gavest  me  to  do ;  here  am  I,  and 
the  children  whom  thou  hast  given  me.  Spare  them, 
for  I  have  borne  their  sins  in  my  own  body  on  the  tree , 
of  which  the  pledge  and  testimonial  is  this  blood,  ex- 
pressed from  my  human  veins  in  Gethsemane,  at  the 
place  of  scourging,  and  on  the  Cross."  And  so  everlast- 
ing is  the  remembrance  of  this  in  heaven,  that  John  the 
Apostle  says,  in  his  Apocalypse,  "  And  I  beheld,  and 
lo,  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  and  of  the  four  beasts, 
and  in  the  midst  of  the  elders,  stood  a  Lamb,  as  it  had 
been  slain."  Still  does  the  blood  of  Christ  speak  better 
things  than  that  of  Abel,  by  causing  the  merit  of  the 
Atonement  to  resound  in  heaven. 

2.  The  blood  of  Jesus  speaks  peace  to  the  believing 
sinner  s  conscience.  One  may  be  interested  in  the 
great  salvation,  and  yet  be  destitute  of  certainty.  We 
are  constrained  to  judge  thus  concerning  some  of  the 
best  of  God's  people,  in  their  moments  of  darkness  and 
depression.     The  same  blood  which  removes  guilt  by 


218  THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING. 

being  shed  at  the  altar,  removes  fear  by  being  sprin- 
kled on  the  believing  oflPerer.  This  is  the  great  mean- 
ing of  the  sealing  type.  It  was  so  apphed  to  the  people 
with  some  profusion,  for  the  blood  being  put  into  ba- 
sins, and  having  water  miagled  to  keep  it  fluid,  was 
conveyed  on  a  bunch  or  bundle  of  hyssop  bound  up 
with  scarlet  wool,  till  it  was  all  spent  in  the  service. 
This  rite  of  sprinkling  was  chosen  of  God  as  an  expres- 
sive sign  of  the  effectual  communication  of  the  benefits 
of  the  covenant  to  the  persons  so  bedewed.  The  blood 
of  Christ  was  not  divided,  as  was  that  of  the  Levitical 
sacrifice,  part  being  sprinkled  on  the  altar  and  part  on 
the  sinner ;  but  the  efficacy  of  his  one  oblation  pro- 
duced both  consequences.  Yet  we  need  both.  Even 
though  offered  to  God,  it  must  be  applied  to  us.  The 
High  Priest  sprinkles  our  heart  and  conscience,  as  with 
the  hyssop-branch ;  which  explains  the  lamenting  prayer 
of  David,  "  Purge  me  with  hyssop  and  I  shaU  be  clean." 
This  application  is  wrought  by  the  Holy  Spirit;  and 
how  gracious  is  this  effusion  !  We  stand  at  a  great 
distance,  unable  to  serve  God  with  any  Hberty,  till  he 
thus  speaks  peace  to  our  troubled  souls.  This  filial 
serving  of  the  living  God  is  expressly  noted  as  the  end 
for  which  the  application  is  made,  Heb.  ix.  13;  and  let 
us  here  learn  to  rise  fi:om  the  type  to  the  antitype :  "  For 
if  the  blood  of  bulls  and  goats,  and  the  ashes  of  an 
heifer  spiinkling  the  unclean,  sanctifieth  to  the  purifying 
of  the  flesh,  how  much  more  shall  the  blood  of  Christ, 
who  through  the  Eternal  Spirit  offered  himself  without 


THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING.  219 

spot  to  God,  purge  your  conscience  from  dead  works, 
to  ser\^e  the  living  God."  Then  we  can  serve  with 
well-grounded  cheerfulness,  when  the  warm  eflPusion  of 
Christ's  blood  is  felt  upon  our  hearts,  which  so  lately 
were  sinking  with  dread. 

Let  us  go  back  to  the  Law,  which  is  our  school- 
master to  bring  us  to  Christ.  Here  is  an  offender, 
standing  pensive  and  awe-struck  before  the  altar  of 
burnt-offering.  He  has  presented  his  victim  ;  he  has 
laid  on  it  the  hand  of  confession  and  imputation ;  he 
has  seen  it  deprived  of  Hfe  and  laid  upon  the  blazing 
altar ;  he  has  gazed  upon  the  series  of  symbohcal  actions 
expressive  of  the  atoning  work  and  satisfaction  to  God. 
But  one  thing  is  yet  wanting,  to  assure  him  of  his  in- 
dividual participation  in  this  justifying  righteousness ; 
he  receives  from  the  hyssop-branch  the  sacred  drops 
upon  his  vestment  and  his  person.  His  pardon  is 
sealed.  He  says,  with  a  new  consciousness,  "  I  am 
free!  This  oblation  avails  for  me!  God  remits  my 
guilt  for  the  sake  of  sacrifice ! "  Now  all  this  takes 
place  in  a  New  Testament  sense.  The  convinced  sinner 
has  a  clear  view  of  the  plan  of  remedy  provided  in  the 
Gospel,  and  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  one  atoning  sacrifice. 
At  the  feet  of  this  Cross  he  confesses  his  sins.  He  be- 
holds there  a  propitiation  amply  adequate  for  the  pardon 
of  a  world.  He  approves  the  method,  and  honours  its 
wisdom  and  love.  He  perceives  the  law  exalted  and 
God's  anger  turned  away.  This,  so  far  as  it  goes,  is 
faith;  but  peace  is  in  abeyance.     He  knows  Christ 


220  THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING. 

to  be  a  Saviour,  but  he  falters  in  claiming  Christ  a 
Saviour  for  him,  until,  0  blessed  moment !  the  veil  is 
rent,  the  priest  returns  from  the  most  holy  place,  and 
sprinkles  him  with  the  peace-speaking  blood.  Now  he 
can  cry, "  I  know  whom  I  have  believed ; "  "  Christ  Je- 
sus came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  of  whom  I  am 
chief; "  "  My  beloved  is  mine,  and  I  am  his ; "  "  My 
Lord  and  my  God !  "  Thus  the  blood  of  the  covenant 
speaketh  to  the  conscience  better  things  than  that  of 
Abel. 

3.  As  a  case  under  the  preceding,  the  blood  of 
sprinkling  speaks  peace  to  the  soul  in  regard  to  daily 
sins.  Oh,  shameful,  dreadful  word !  Yet  none  more 
true.  No  dream  is  more  directly  opposed  to  the  Scrip- 
tures than  the  pretence  to  sinless  perfection.  "If  we 
say  that  we  have  no  sin  we  deceive  ourselves,  and  the 
truth  is  not  in  us."  Every  instructed  Christian  knows 
that  he  sins,  by  commission  or  by  omission,  every  hour ; 
and  that  he  requires  not  only  a  primary  reconciliation 
to  God,  on  the  ground  of  Christ's  one  sacrifice,  but  a 
constant  renewal  of  the  same  grace,  to  keep  him  in 
favour,  and  particularly  to  persuade  him  of  his  accept- 
ance, which  is  not  always  easy,  in  the  face  of  those  cor- 
ruptions which  break  out  even  into  act.  A  fair  and 
most  important  distinction  must  be  taken  between 
Justification,  which  is  a  single  act,  accomphshed  in- 
stantaneously, once  for  all,  at  the  sinner's  first  behev- 
ing,  and  Pardon,  which  must  be  renewed  day  by  day, 
though  its  efficacy  depends  upon  the  one  original  sacri- 


THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING. 


221 


fice.  Such  was  tlie  glory  of  that  oblation,  that  it 
needed  not  to  be  repeated,  in  this  differing  from  the 
typical  sacrifices,  which  were  reiterated  as  fresh  sins 
arose.  Heb.  x.  1.  "For  the  law  having  a  shadow  of 
good  things  to  come,  and  not  the  very  image  of  the 
things,  can  never  with  those  sacrifices  which  they 
offered  year  by  year  continually,  make  the  comers 
thereunto  perfect.  Por  then  would  they  not  have 
ceased  to  be  offered?  because  that  the  worshippers, 
once  purged,  should  have  had  no  more  conscience  of 
sins!'  But  when  Messiah  comes,  v.  10,  we  are  saved 
"  by  the  offering  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  once  for 
all."  Nevertheless,  that  which  is  ever-enduring  in  its 
value  and  prevalency  needs  to  be  apphed  to  us  fre- 
quently, to  take  away  "  conscience  of  sins ; "  that  is, 
while  there  is  but  one  Sacrifice,  there  are  many 
Sprinklings.  As  long  as  we  live^  and  every  day  that 
we  Hve,  our  rising  evils  of  heart  and  life  are  such  as 
would  destroy  aU  peace,  if  it  were  not  for  the  hyssop- 
branch  in  the  hand  of  the  Spirit.  There  is  a  two-fold 
appHcation  to  the  soul  of  Christ's  atoning  righteous- 
ness by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  one,  which  is  single,  and 
never  repeated,  the  effect  of  which  is  to  interest  such 
soul  in  the  redemptive  acts;  the  other,  which  is  perpet- 
ually renewed,  the  effect  of  which  is  to  give  jpeace  to 
the  soul  under  a  sense  of  pardon.  That  experience 
may  justly  be  distrusted  in  which  there  is  no  going 
again  and  again  to  the  blood  of  Jesus  for  new  appHca- 
tions.     Thousands  have  used  the  words  of  the  great 


222  THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING. 

penitential  Psalm,  with  a  feeling  of  their  necessity. 
The  royal  sinner  knew  that  he  had  received  the  Holy 
Spirit,  for  he  prays  that  he  may  not  lose  the  gift.  He 
knew  that  he  had  possessed  the  joy  of  God's  salva- 
tion, for  he  implores  that  it  may  be  restored.  But 
at  the  same  time  he  sues  for  fresh  pardons  :  "  Blot 
out  my  transgressions ;  "  "  Purge  me  with  hyssop ;  " 
and  for  new  peace  of  conscience,  "  Make  me  to  hear  joy 
and  gladness,  that  the  bones  which  thou  hast  broken 
may  rejoice."  The  divine  affusion  of  the  sacred  blood 
upon  the  heart  and  conscience,  tends,  as  the  Christian 
life  goes  on,  to  make  the  subject  a  more  obedient  and 
a  happier  Christian ;  which  seems  to  be  contemplated 
by  the  Apostle  Peter,  when  he  designates  believers  as 
"elect  according  to  the  foreknowledge  of  God  the 
Father,  through  sanctification  of  the  Spirit,  unto  obedi- 
ence, and  sprinkling  of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ." 
The  same  ideas  of  obedience  and  renewed  pardon  are 
presented  in  connexion  by  the  Apostle  John :  "  My 
Httle  children,  these  things  write  I  unto  you,  that  ye 
sin  not.  And  if  any  man  sin,  we  have  an  Advocate 
with  the  Father,  Jesus  Christ,  [who  never  sinned,]  and 
he  is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins."  The  true  oblation 
reaches  that  which  Aaronic  oblations  could  not  reach, 
namely,  the  conscience ;  for  Paul  says,  that  those  were 
gifts  and  sacrifices,  that  could  not  make  him  that  did 
the  service  perfect  as  ]pertaining  to  the  conscience^ 
Grace  and  mercy  result  in  peace,  named  in  its  higher 
measures  the  "  peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  under- 


THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING.  223 

standing."  Love  hath  for  its  nature  to  make  itself 
known  and  to  have  itself  behoved.  The  infinite  love 
of  God  to  the  soul  is  not  satisfied  until  it  pours  itself 
into  the  consciousness,  saying,  "  I  have  loved  thee  with 
an  everlasting  love,  therefore  with  loving  kindness  have 
I  drawn  thee."  God  might  have  postponed  the  disclo- 
sure of  the  soul's  safety  until  the  day  of  judgment ;  the 
blood  might  have  been  carried  within  the  veil  of  the 
visible  heavens,  and  offered  at  the  cherubic  throne, 
without  ever  being  applied  to  our  souls  in  this  earthly 
state.  But  far  different  has  been  the  gracious  purpose 
of  our  High  Priest,  who  condescends  to  assure  us  of 
our  redemption,  and  to  sprinkle  us  with  his  blood.  The 
word  of  the  Gospel,  in  the  written  revelation,  precious 
as  it  is,  and  fundamental  as  it  is  to  all  edification  within, 
utters  assurances  only  of  general  favour.  There  must 
be  a  distinct  act  of  the  Spirit  to  carry  this  home  to  the 
individual  consciousness.  And  so  many  are  the  doubts 
and  misgivings,  engendered  by  indweUing  sin,  that  we 
need  our  beloved  Saviour  to  tell  us  again  and  again 
that  he  is  at  peace  with  us  and  loves  us  stiQ.  The 
words  which  he  employs  for  this  purpose  are  the  very 
words  which  stand  recorded  in  his  written  testament ; 
but  they  are  uttered  with  a  new  tone  of  personal  love 
and  a  voice  trembhng  with  individual  compassion.  And 
sometimes  he  vouchsafes  to  employ  the  idiom  of  signs 
and  pledges,  more  penetrating  than  that  of  speech,  and 
to  address  us  thus  :  "  Take,  eat,  this  is  my  body  :  This 
cup  is  the  new  covenant  in  my  blood,  shed  for  many. 


224  THE  BLOOD  OF  SPRINKLING. 

for  the  remission  of  sins."  But  the  retrospective  sacra- 
ment would  be  as  inoperative  as  the  prospective  sacri- 
fice, unless  there  were  superadded  the  gracious  work  of 
the  Spirit  within,  applying  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  to 
the  heart,  and  witnessing  with  our  spirits  that  we  are 
the  children  of  God.  More  simply,  the  Divine  influence 
increases  faith,  renders  its  object  more  clear,  precise, 
complete  and  free  from  error,  and  makes  its  acting  more 
constant  and  intense.  In  this  the  Word  is  greatly 
aided  by  the  sign  and  seal.  And  when  the  word  of 
promise,  set  forth  in  this  two-fold  way,  is  made  good 
to  the  soul  at  the  communion,  the  effect  is  the  same  as 
if  the  bridegroom's  own  lips  audibly  should  say  to  the 
particular  participants :  "  I  am  come  into  my  garden, 
my  sister,  my  spouse;  I  have  gathered  my  myrrh 
with  my  spice;  I  have  eaten  my  honeycomb  with 
my  honey;  I  have  drunk  my  wine  with  my  milk; 
eat,  O  friends;  drink,  yea,  drink  abundantly,  O  be- 
loved ! "  Such  invitations  will  be  peculiarly  welcome 
to  those  who  halt  with  the  wounds  of  recent  sins,  and 
who  seem  to  hear  the  challenge,  "  Simon,  son  of  Jonas, 
lovest  thou  me  ?  "  But  as  surely  as  the  bread  and  the 
wine  shall  presently  be  offered  to  your  taste,  so  surely 
Christ  offers  to  you,  sinful  though  you  be,  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  the  blood  of  sprinkling. 


X. 


THE     THIRSTY    INVITED 


15 


THE  THIRSTY  INVITED* 


Isaiah  Iv.  1. 
"  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters." 

Who  is  there  among  us,  that  remembers  near  the 
home  of  his  infancy  or  the  play-ground  of  his  youth, 
some  cool  and  crystal  spring,  that  burst  forth  from  its 
covert  of  rock,  or  its  margin  of  grass,  and  freshened  all 
the  scene  around  ?  Such  an  object  of  natural  scenery 
Hves  long  in  the  memory.  To  such  a  source  of  innocent 
delight  we  resort  again  and  again,  without  weariness 
and  without  satiety.  That  which  attracted  us  first, 
charms  us  still,  and  the  reason  is,  that  it  is  living,  pe- 
rennial and  inexhaustible,  yielding  supplies  to  wants 
which  are  perpetually  returning.  As  long  as  men 
thirst,  they  wlQ  value  the  clear  cold  fountain.     But  if, 

*  New  York,  July  9, 1854. 


228  '^^^  THIKSTY  myiTED. 

even  in  this  temperate  clime,  we  are  often  made  to 
comprehend  the  invaluable  excellency  of  this  great  and 
lavish  gift  to  our  craving  humanity,  how  much  hveher 
must  be  the  feeling,  in  those  torrid  regions,  where 
most  of  the  scriptural  scenes  are  laid !  A  spring  of 
water  is  always  a  desirable  object ;  but  how  surpassing 
its  fascination  amidst  tropical  heats,  or  in  the  scorching 
wastes  of  the  desert,  where  the  panting  caravan  looks 
out  for  hours  to  catch  the  first  signs  of  verdure  !  Con- 
sider this,  and  you  will  no  longer  marvel  at  the  large 
place  which  is  occupied  by  wells  and  fountains,  in  the 
beautiful  pastoral  and  nomadic  pictures  of  the  Old 
Testament.  The  hterature  of  the  patriarchs  is  emi- 
nently an  out- door  and  a  summer  literature,  which  we 
best  understand  when  we  leave  the  luxuries  and  con- 
straint of  cities,  and  dwell  abroad,  under  the  fair 
heavens,  and  amidst  the  bright  and  picturesque  sur- 
roundings of  an  oriental  Hfe.  The  imagination  and 
memory  of  the  Bible-reader  are  familiar  with  such  ob- 
jects in  the  ancient  landscape ;  the  wells  of  Abram, 
Isaac  and  Jacob ;  the  fountain  opened  to  despairing 
Hagar ;  the  well  of  Rebekah,  and  the  not  less  lovely 
well  of  Uachel ;  the  well  of  Jethro  and  Moses ;  the 
palm-tree  wells  of  Elam ;  and  that  fount  of  which  thirsting 
David  cried, "  0  that  one  would  give  me  drink  of  the  water 
of  the  well  of  Bethlehem,  which  is  by  the  gate  !  "  Bearing 
these  associations  in  our  minds,  we  can  the  better  catch 
the  meaning  of  promises  which  declare  that  the  thirsty 
land  shall  become  springs  of  water,  and  that  God  will 


THE  THIRSTY  INVITED.  £29 

lead  his  people  to  fountains  of  living  water.  But  why 
seek  remote  illustrations  of  that  which  finds  its  prompt 
response  in  the  bosom  of  all  who  ever  were  athirst  ? 
It  is  to  such,  in  a  spiritual  sense,  that  the  invitation  of 
the  text  is  addressed,  "  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth, 
come  ye  to  the  waters ! "  And  we  may,  without  la- 
boured investigation,  consider  it  as  offering  the  benefits 
of  the  gospel  to  those  who  are  perishing.  I  ask  you  on 
this  holy  day,  to  examine  with  me  the  fulness,  the  free- 
ness,  and  the  universality  of  the  offered  gift. 

I.  The  fulness  of  the  offered  gift.  It  is  water ;  it 
is  abundance  of  water.  There  must  be  something  in 
this  natural  object,  which  is  suited  to  symbohze  the 
provision  made  in  the  gospel  for  the  salvation  of  man- 
kind. Man  is  so  constituted  that  he  must  have  water, 
or  perish.  Give  him  all  things  else,  but  deny  him 
every  liquid  refreshment,  and  .you  destroy  his  life. 
Nothing  more  forcibly  shows  this,  than  the  famihar 
fact,  that  even  on  the  vast  ocean,  the  mariner,  surrounded 
by  a  world  of  waters,  must  nevertheless  carry  with  him 
the  fresh  products  of  the  living  fountain.  The  appetite 
for  this  supply  is  so  strong,  that  when  long  ungratified, 
it  becomes  a  frenzy.  And  how  bountiful  is  the  supply ! 
In  hill  and  valley  the  springs  of  water  bubble  up,  with 
a  sweet  caprice  and  dehghtful  irregularity,  or  the  hand 
of  labour  penetrates  deeply  to  the  cooHng  vein,  in  both 
cases  with  a  liberality  like  that  which  pours  a  vital  at- 
mosphere around  our  planet.  The  evaporation  from 
earth  and  ocean,  and  the  descent  of  copious  showers 


230  '^^^  THIRSTY  INVITED. 

maintain  in  plenitude  this  great  reservoir  for  the 
cleansing  and  cheering  of  mankind.  It  is  indispensa- 
ble to  the  natural  life  of  the  race.  And  so  is  the  gospel 
to  the  spiritual  life.  Men  must  partake  of  it,  or  perish. 
When  duly  enhghtened,  they  feel  this  to  be  their  con- 
dition, and  thirst  for  righteousness.  Such  an  invitation 
as  that  of  the  text  implies  that  the  supply  is  large ;  or 
it  could  not  suffice  for  all.  The  provision  of  grace 
leaves  nothing  wanting,  for  the  worst  conceivable  indi- 
vidual case,  or  for  the  utmost  number  of  persons  to  be 
saved.  We  must  be  careful  not  to  undervalue  the  re- 
medial methods  and  so  to  limit  the  Holy  One  of  Israel. 
In  this  case  God  has  acted  like  himself,  with  a  large 
and  sublime  munificence ;  more  striking  even  than  in 
the  wonderful  arrangements  of  original  creation  and 
providence,  because  these  do  not  contemplate  a  crea- 
ture malignant  and  self-destroyed.  If  any  one  thing, 
even  the  slightest,  had  been  left  undone,  which  was  nec- 
essary to  the  salvation  of  the  sinner,  the  work  would 
not  have  had  this  completeness.  But  all  is  furnished. 
It  need  not  be  here  made  an  affair  of  argument,  that 
the  great  demand  is  for  a  righteousness  for  those  who 
who  have  none  ;  that  mysterious  and  potent  something, 
which  shall  heal  the  difference  between  heaven  and  earth, 
answer  the  claim  of  law,  turn  away  the  wrath  of  Jehovah, 
cleanse  the  guilt  of  sin,  give  a  title  to  life,  and  afford  a 
pledge  of  continuance  in  a  holy  state  and  of  everlasting 
blessedness  and  perfection  beyond  the  grave.  The  all- 
comprehending  gift  is  the  gift  of  God's  own  Son.  "  God 


THE  THIRSTY  INVITED.  231 

liath  given  unto  us  eternal  life,  and  this  life  is  in  his 
Son."  The  Incarnation,  the  obedience  and  the  vicarious 
suffering  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  are  the  source  of 
all  the  streams  which  here  issue  in  such  fulness.  But 
the  point  where  above  all  others  the  waters  gush  forth 
from  the  smitten  rock  is  the  Cross  of  our  Redeemer. 
There,  when  his  last  cry  of  pain  is  over,  and  out  of  his 
side  issue  water  and  blood,  we  have  the  consummation 
of  a  gift  to  man,  which  is  full  beyond  expression.  Sin- 
ners by  myriads  may  come  in,  and  yet  there  is  room. 
The  invitation  may  be  large,  for  the  provision  is  vast. 
Not  only  is  the  springhead  of  these  mercies  great,  but 
it  cannot  be  greater.  The  consideration  of  this  is  very 
necessary  for  the  steady  confidence  of  our  faith ;  and 
this  is  felt  most  deeply  in  hours  when  conviction  of  sin  is 
peculiarly  pungent.  The  righteousness  of  Christ  is 
infinite.  We  are  made  just  by  this,  and  by  nothing 
else.  Now  that  which  gives  to  this  righteousness  any 
merit,  gives  it  all  merit.  The  divinity  of  him  who 
obeys  and  suffers,  exalts  the  meritorious  obedience 
and  suffering  to  a  maximum.  Were  all  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  Adam,  who  have  been,  are,  and  shall  be, 
to  gather  in  one  numberless  mass,  with  the  Cross  for 
its  centre  and  object  of  desire,  there  were  enough  for 
all.  When  Jesus  bowed  his  head  and  gave  up  the 
ghost,  he  completed  a  sacrifice  which  is  absolutely  il- 
limitable. Yea,  though  all  worlds  were  peopled  with 
sinners,  here  were  enough  for  all ;  we  say  not  in  God's 
purpose,  nor  in  his  covenant  growing  out  of  purpose. 


232 


THE  THIRSTY  INVITED. 


nor  in  the  actual  application  of  redemption  according 
to  covenant,  but  in  the  value  of  the  Atonement.     If 
more  were  to  be  saved,  it  would  need  no  more  right- 
eousness, and  no  more  effusion  of  the  sacred  vital  flood, 
although  the  contrary  has  been  alleged  as  our  belief. 
If  this  is  not  fulness  of  redemption,  we  must  despair  of 
communicating  this  idea  by  language.     And  yet  we 
must  proceed  to  add  to  this  statement  in  a  particular 
respect.     The  atonement  might  be  complete,  and  yet 
not  be  effectual.     In  God's  holy  purpose,  it  needs  to 
be  applied.    Some  have  represented  the  covenant  of 
grace  as  simply  placing  man  in  "  a  salvable  state."  We 
go  further  than  this.     Man  may  be  in  a  salvable  state, 
yet  never  reach  a  state  of  salvation.     The  plan  of  God 
proposes  to  bring  men  actually  into  the  kingdom.   The 
invitation  is  to  come  to  a  provided  fulness  of  effectual 
grace  ;  to  faith  and  its  consequences  ;  to  perseverance 
in  holiness  and  everlasting  life.    These  waters  break 
over  the  verge  of  their  receptacle,  and  seem  to  fall  like 
the  inviting  spray  of  a  great  fountain,  holding  out 
promise  of  infinite  capacity  beyond  all  that  is  seen. 
Till  we  can  conceive  of  something  greater  than  God,  we 
need  have  no  fear  of  trusting  the  whole  weight  of  our 
salvation  on  the  method  which  he  has  revealed  ;  for  he 
has  made  it,  so  to  speak,  commensurate  with  himself; 
by  laying  his  very  divinity  in  pledge,  and  causing  the 
value  of  the  salvation  to  repose  on  the  eternal  glories  of 
his  own  nature. 

II.  The  freeness  of  the  offered  gift  awaits  our  notice. 


THE  THIRSTY  INVITED.  233 

This  is  implied  by  the  strong  terms  of  invitation,  Ho, 
EVERY  ONE,  COME  YE  !  It  is  still  more  clearly  signified 
by  the  words  immediately  following,  where  the  figure 
is  slightly  modified,  though  the  general  idea  of  thirst 
remains  prominent ;  "  yea  come,  buy  wine  and  milk, 
without  money  and  without  price."  It  is  not  to  a 
purchase,  but  a  gift.  The  gratuitousness  of  the  com- 
munication could  not  be  more  strongly  expressed.  It 
is  here  held  forth  and  proclaimed  with  divine  earnest- 
ness, that  he  who  comes  to  the  salvation  of  the  gospel, 
receives  it  without  any  ofPer  of  recompense  or  any  wor- 
thiness on  his  own  part.  The  fountain  of  hfe  has  in- 
deed its  price,  a  price  which  has  been  paid.  It 
cost  the  agonies  and  death  of  the  Son  of  God.  To  se- 
cure our  salvation  it  was  necessary  that  a  struggle  and 
a  humihation  hitherto  unknown  in  the  universe  should 
take  place.  The  price  has  been  laid  down,  for  us,  but 
not  by  us.  Eternal  justice  has  been  satisfied  on  our 
behalf ;  but  to  u:s  the  invitation  is  without  money  and 
without  price. 

The  reiteration  of  this  truth  may  strike  some  as 
needless.  They  are  ready  to  exclaim,  "  Who  doubts  that 
the  gospel  is  free  ?  "  In  reply  we  must  observe,  that 
while  no  truth  is  more  affirmed  in  our  creeds,  none  is 
more  denied  in  our  practice.  It  is  hard  to  make  men 
believe,  that  they  may  come  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
gratuitously,  that  is  without  any  previous  condition. 
There  are  few  believers  who  do  not  remember  the  mo- 
ment when  this  unconditional  freeness  of  the  gospel 


234  THE  THIRSTY  INVITED. 

broke  upon  their  minds  as  a  great  revelation.  They 
had  been  lying  long  beside  the  pool  of  healing,  waiting 
for  some  one  to  put  them  in.  They  thought  there  was 
a  long  and  difficult  preparation  before  they  could  ven- 
ture to  come  to  Christ.  They  interpreted  the  invitation 
as  made  to  such  and  such  persons,  having  particular 
quahties,  and  they  were  not  sure  that  these  qualities 
were  in  themselves.  They  could  not  approach  the 
fountain  because  they  did  not  feel  enough ;  they  dared 
not  beheve,  because  they  did  not  grieve  enough.  Or, 
in  some  of  the  endlessly  shifting  varieties  of  delusive  ex- 
perience, they  were  setting  a  price  on  pardon,  and  seek- 
ing to  make  up  the  amount ;  they  were  working  on 
their  own  hearts,  to  make  them  more  fit  for  Christ ; 
they  were  essaying  a  half-way  work,  which,  without 
erasing  the  word  "  grace  "  from  the  record,  should  leave 
to  self  some  of  the  glory  of  preparation.  And  the  mo- 
ment when  all  this  was  swept  away,  is  memorable  in 
the  believer's  history.  It  is  the  moment  which  imme- 
diately precedes  faith.  Up  to  this  instant,  he  has 
been  trying  earnestly  to  do  something,  which  shall 
make  him  more  fit  to  receive  Christ.  Now,  he  sees 
that  the  whole  deed  of  righteousness  is  done  already, 
that  its  full  value  is  offered  to  him  in  the  gospel,  and 
that  he  is  authorized  to  accept  it. 

But  so  subtle  and  protean  is  self -righteousness,  that 
even  the  free  words  of  the  invitation  may  be  distorted 
into  a  legal  condition.  "  Every  one  that  thirsteth."  The 
busy  demon  at  the  ear,  who  dreads  nothing  so  much 


THE  THIRSTY  INVITED. 


235 


as  that  the  sinner  should  believe,  here  "whispers,  *  But 
perhaps  you  do  not  thirst,  or  you  do  not  thirst  enough, 
or  you  do  not  thirst  aright.'  Such  queries  might  in- 
deed be  urged  forever,  and  run  to  an  infinite  series,  if 
any  sort  or  kind  of  preparatory  condition  were  required. 
The  question  might  still  be,  Do  I  possess  this  condi- 
tion ?  And  it  is  a  question  which  can  never  be  an- 
swered. We  have  known  persons  who  were  engaged 
during  the  entire  course  of  their  lives,  in  agitating  the 
inquiry,  whether  they  feel  enough ;  whether  they  feel 
their  need  of  Christ ;  whether  they  are  not  too  unfeel- 
ing ;  whether  they  hate  sin  enough ;  whether  they  are 
sufficiently  in  earnest.  All  these  are  proper  questions, 
in  relation  to  another  matter  ;  but  here  they  are  out  of 
place,  and  serve  only  to  keep  the  sick  away  from  the 
physician.  These  hngerings  and  scruples  arise  from 
a  source,  to  which  I  beg  your  profoundest  attention. 
They  arise  from  founding  hope  on  feelings  of  our  own, 
instead  of  founding  it  on  God's  veracity.  The  truth  of 
God's  promise  is  the  everlasting  rock.  Here  build 
and  be  safe.  All  else,  especially  all  within  us,  is  a 
quicksand.  The  word  of  the  Lord  endureth  forever. 
True  faith  utterly  forgets  itseK,  and  credits  the  assur- 
ance of  God's  free  pardon.  It  looks  away  from  its  own 
worthiness  and  its  own  unworthiness,  and  hears  God 
saying  "  Ho !  "  "  Come  ye  ! "  Come  without  money  and 
without  price !  And  it  comes  :  without  turning  to  the 
right  hand  or  to  the  left.  The  question  no  longer  is. 
What  am  I  ?  but  what  is  God  ?    Is  he  true  ?    Has  he 


236  THE  THIRSTY  INVITED. 

spoken  ?  It  sets  to  its  seal,  that  God  is  true.  It  ac- 
quiesces in  a  righteousness  already  finished.  So  it 
saves. 

The  doctrinal  truth  which  hes  at  the  basis  of  all 
these  exercises  is,  that  the  procuring  cause  of  our  ac- 
ceptance with  God,  is  not  any  thing  done  by  us,  or  in 
us,  not  any  work,  preparation,  frame  or  feeling,  but 
only  the  perfect  righteousness  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
The  trumpet  sounds  thus,  from  over  the  fresh  fountain, 
"  Whosoever  will,  let  him  take  of  the  water  of  life, 
FREELY."  And  the  persuaded  soul,  now  taught  the  great 
lesson  of  self-renunciation  and  self-forgetfulness,  and 
swallowed  up  in  admiration  of  the  stupendous  gift,  falls 
into  the  open  arms  of  dying  Love. 

When  a  wretch,  just  at  the  point  of  expiring  with 
thirst,  opens  his  lips  to  receive  the  cool  reviving  draught, 
does  he  think  of  this  act  of  his,  though  voluntary,  as 
constituting  any  previous  claim  ?  As  little  does  the  be- 
liever ascribe  any  meritorious  virtue  to  his  sinful  be- 
heving,  which  is  no  more  than  his  acquiescence  in  the 
method  which  God  has  provided.  Thus  unbounded  is 
the  freeness  of  the  offer  which  is  made  of  all  evangehcal 
blessings,  including  pardon,  peace,  and  eternal  life. 

III.  The  universality  of  the  offer  is  here :  "Ho,  every 
one  that  thirsteth."  Salvation,  or  in  other  words, 
Christ  the  author  of  salvation,  is  offered  to  all  nations 
of  mankind.  The  topic  is  so  large  and  inviting,  that  I 
must  admonish  myself  to  dispatch  it  in  few  words. 
Nothing  is  more  famihar  to  us,  nothing  was  more  strange 


THE  THIRSTY  INVITED.  237 

to  the  ancients,  than  that  the  favour  of  God  should  be 
made  coextensive  with  the  world ;  and  while  it  was  a 
stumbling-block  to  Judaism,  it  was  the  theme  which, 
of  all  others,  lifted  Paul  to  the  highest  rapture,  as  apos- 
tle of  the  Gentiles.  The  middle  wall  of  partition  was 
broken  down.  The  vail  of  the  temple  was  rent.  The 
waters  of  life,  seen  in  vision  by  Ezekiel,  broke  over  the 
Eastern  threshold  of  the  temple,  and  flowed  in  a  mighty 
stream.  Jesus  offered  himself  a  sacrifice  not  for  Israel 
only,  but  for  all  nations.  "  He  is  the  propitiation  for 
our  sins,"  said  John,  "  and  not  for  ours  only,  but  for  the 
sins  of  the  whole  world."  And  coincident  with  this 
purpose  was  the  great  commission,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the 
world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature."  It 
was  foreseen  by  Isaiah,  the  evangeHcal  prophet.  In 
God's  wonderful  providence,  grace  had  been  Hmited  to 
a  chosen  nation,  but  now  the  system  was  enlarged,  so 
as  to  be  a  universal  rehgion,  and  henceforth  "God 
commandeth  all  men,  everywhere,  to  repent."  This 
blessed  gospel  is  now  on  its  triumphant  progress 
through  the  earth,  and  the  day  is  fixed  in  the  counsels 
of  heaven,  when  it  shall  be  "  made  known  to  all  nations 
for  the  obedience  of  faith."  The  gracious  summons  is 
to  an  realms  and  peoples. 

The  blessings  of  religion  are  hereby  offered  to  men 
of  every  state,  class  and  character.  To  be  a  human 
creature,  and  to  hear  the  gospel,  is  to  come  within  the 
comprehension  of  this  grace.  It  proclaims  its  fulness 
and  freeness  to  young  and  old,  rich  and  poor,  learned 


238  THE  THIRSTY  INVITED. 

and  simple,  high  and  low.  It  does  not  single  out  cer- 
tain classes  as  those  who  may  be  saved,  but  declares 
that  all  may  be  saved,  even  as  all  who  are  athirst  may 
drink.  It  does  not  indeed  promise  that  men  shall  be 
saved  in  their  sins,  for  the  very  salvation  delivers  jfrom 
sin,  and  this  water  is  in  each  who  tastes  it  a  well  of 
water  springing  up  to  everlasting  life,  and  manifesting 
its  virtue  by  holiness  of  thought,  affection,  speech  and 
work.  But  as  to  the  prerequisite  for  accepting  the 
offer,  the  Gospel  does  not  demand  holiness ;  this  does 
not  yet  exist ;  it  is  to  be  produced ;  it  is  part  of  the 
benefit  to  be  sought.  No  one  should  suppose  himself 
excluded  from  the  promise  of  free  pardon  and  life,  be- 
cause of  any  thing  in  his  condition  or  character.  Pro- 
vided he  come  as  a  sinner  all  athirst  for  pardon,  and 
beheves  in  Him  who  justifieth  the  ungodly,  he  is  sure 
of  welcome.  And,  as  no  man's  proper  name  is  in  the 
grant,  the  only  warrant  wliich  any  has,  is  the  promise 
which  is  made  to  all.  The  general  invitation  becomes 
particular,  when  it  is  appropriated  by  faith.  In  a  mu- 
tinous army,  if  the  commander  or  prince  publishes  an 
act  of  forgiveness  and  amnesty  to  all  who  are  willing  to 
receive  it,  the  rebel  who  hears,  believes  and  submits 
himself,  makes  the  gratuity  his  own.  Thousands  hear 
the  terms  of  the  gospel,  but  do  not  accept  them.  But 
the  reason  why  any  one  accepts  and  is  saved,  is  not 
that  the  provision  was  not  sufficient  for  all,  or  the  proffer 
of  life  equally  made  to  all,  but  simply  that  he,  an  un- 
deserving wretch,  yields  to  the  moving  of  the  gracious 


THE  THIRSTY  INVITED.  239 

Spirit,  takes  God  at  his  word,  and  makes  tlie  universal 
offer  his  own  •particular  salvation.  To  the  very  end  of 
the  present  dispensation,  the  preaching  of  the  gospel 
authorizes  all  sinners  of  mankind  to  come  and  be  freed 
from  sin. 

More  particularly,  the  salvation  is  free  to  the  chief 
of  sinners.  This  is  necessary  to  its  universahty.  If  there 
were  one  degree  of  turpitude  which  was  excepted  from 
the  general  pardon,  what  sinful  heart  is  there,  which 
would  not  sometimes  be  tempted  to  think  that  degree 
its  own?  But  there  is  none  such.  The  infinite  merit 
of  Christ,  which  is  the  sole  basis  of  the  offer,  proves 
that  there  is  none  such.  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
cleanseth  from  all  sui.  He  is  able  to  save  to  the  utter- 
most, all  that  come  unto  God  by  him.  There  is  no  dye 
of  guilt,  which  these  waters  do  not  cleanse.  Considered 
in  itself,  there  is  no  amount  of  iniquity  which  tran- 
scends the  virtue  of  Christ's  atoning  sacrifice,  or  is  be- 
yond the  reach  of  God's  gracious  invitation.  The  very 
murderous  treachery  of  Judas  might  have  been  par- 
doned, nay  would  have  been  pardoned,  on  his  faith  and 
repentance.  If  there  is  a  sin  in  our  day  which  is  un- 
pardonable, it  is  such,  not  because  the  blood  of  Christ 
lacks  efficacy,  or  because  the  promise  of  the  gospel  ex- 
cludes it,  but  because  such  sin,  by  its  very  nature,  re- 
jects and  despises  the  sacred  blood  and  the  gracious 
promise.  Every  one  that  thirstetb,  though  all  crimes 
were  accumulated  and  concentred  on  his  head,  may 
approach  and  be  made  whole.     There  are  moments  of 


240  THE  THIRSTY  INVITED. 

conviction,  in  which  you  might  attempt  to  convince  the 
sufferer  of  any  thing  rather  than  that  such  sins  as  his 
can  be  forgiven.  He  admits  that  others  may  be  saved ; 
but  not  himself.  The  Spirit  of  God,  in  foresight  of 
such  cases,  converted  Saul  of  Tarsus,  and  has  left  on 
record  that  golden  passage,  for  all  ages,  which  ends 
thus,  "I  am  chief."  It  is  a  doctrine  most  important 
to  be  preached,  and  to  be  often  reiterated,  in  the  spirit 
of  the  text,  lest  any  rebel,  however  atrocious,  should 
fail  to  admit  the  glorious  universality  of  the  offer. 
Some  of  the  most  signal  trophies  of  grace,  in  which 
sovereign  power  and  love  have  shone  in  the  brightest 
colours,  have  been  men  whose  crimes  seemed  to  out- 
rage heaven;  but  each  of  whom  has  learnt  to  cry 
with  David,  "Pardon  mine  iniquity,  because  it  is 
great ! " 

The  offer  of  life  ought  therefore  to  be  considered  by 
each  individual  hearer  as  addressed  personally  to  him- 
self. It  is  a  counsel  which  applies  to  all  divine  com- 
munications made  in  the  house  of  God ;  but  pre-emi- 
nently to  this,  which  offers  eternal  good  to  all  without 
exception  who  will  receive  it  to  their  bosoms.  The  day 
and  hour  have  come,  in  which,  after  such  long  delays, 
you  may  find  in  Jesus  a  merciful  Saviour.  The  provi- 
dence which  has  brought  you  hither,  and  the  influence 
which  has  opened  your  ear  to  hearken,  make  the  mes- 
sage as  truly  your  own,  as  if  the  voice  of  God  in  dis- 
tinct articulation  uttered  your  individual  name  from 
heaven.     Christ,  with  all  his  benefits,  is  yours,  if,  for- 


THE  THIRSTY  INVITED.  241 

saking  all  things  else,  you  accept  him  as  offered  in  this 
gospel.  0  be  persuaded  to  bow  the  stubborn  neck, 
and  bring  the  long  reluctant  lips  to  these  celestial 
waters ! 

And  let  me  add  a  word  to  Christian  believers, 
whether  newly  converted  or  far  advanced  in  pilgrimage. 
To  you  also  is  the  invitation  given.  This  is  not  a  weU  in 
the  desert,  of  which  you  may  only  once  taste  and  must 
then  leave  forever,  but  a  river  of  life,  at  which  you  may 
perpetually  slake  your  thirst.  The  Israehtes  all  drank 
of  that  Spiritual  Rock  which  followed  them  ;  and  that 
Rock  was  Christ.  The  current  from  the  smitten  rock 
pursued  the  journeyings  of  the  camp.  The  unchanging 
Redeemer  in  his  fulness  is  always  beside  you  and  with- 
in your  reach.  As  ye  have  received  the  Lord  Jesus,  so 
walk  ye  in  him.  Come  buy  wine  and  milk,  without 
money  and  without  price.  You  may  be  already  justi- 
fied indeed ;  but  are  there  not  a  thousand  wants  within 
you  which  crave  supply?  Has  not  your  path  been 
through  a  wearisome  land,  and  are  you  not  sensible  of 
an  inward  thirst,  which*  nothing  but  spiritual  refresh- 
ment can  assuage?  You  need  daily  purifying;  you 
need  daily  increase  of  knowledge ;  you  need  strength 
for  the  remaining  journey,  and  healing  for  the  fevered 
wounds  of  your  conflict.  Behold  the  boundless  provi- 
sion, and  hearken  to  the  liberal  summons.  Approach 
anew  to  Him  who  is  the  source  of  all  your  Hfe,  and  who 
cries  anew,  "  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me 
and  drink.'4 
16 


242  T^^  THIRSTY  myiTED. 

Blessed  be  God — ^the  source  to  wHicli  we  are  in- 
vited is  a  familiar  fountain.  In  regard  at  least  to  our 
knowledge  of  it,  it  was  the  household-spring  of  our 
childhood ;  and  it  has  been  our  cool  resort  from  the 
arid  journeys  of  our  mature  years.  And  though  we 
have,  days  without  number,  forsaken  the  fountain  of 
living  water,  and  hewed  us  out  cisterns,  which  can  hold 
no  water,  yet  are  we  not  deeply  convinced,  beloved, 
that  there  is  none  so  full,  none  so  heavenly,  none  so 
free !  Many  a  time  have  we  gone  to  it,  all  parched 
with  the  ardours  of  our  wearisome  path,  and  found  the 
Diffaser  of  gracious  refreshment  ready  to  take  us  back 
and  satisfy  us  with  his  love.  Again  the  sound  of  fall- 
ing waters  is  in  our  ears.  Prom  the  clefts  of  the  sav- 
ing Rock,  the  holy  stream  breaks  forth  in  profusion. 
"  The  Spirit  and  the  Bride  say,  Come.  And  let  him 
that  heareth  say.  Come.  And  whosoever  will,  let  him 
take  the  water  of  life  freely." 


XI. 

THE   INWARDNESS   OF   TRUE  RELIGION. 


THE 

INWAKDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION  * 


LXTEE  xi.  40. 

"Did  not  he  that  made  that  which  is  without,  make  that  which  is 
within  also  ? " 

These  words  draw  our  attention  to  religion  as 
something  inward  and  spiritual.  In  this  they  resemble 
the  rest  of  Christ's  instructions,  which  were  intended  to 
bring  men  to  a  service  of  mind  and  heart,  rather  than 
of  outward  observance.  The  piety  of  the  Pharisees  was 
altogether  external.  Hence  they  were  shocked  when 
this  new  teacher  disregarded  all  their  forms.  One  of 
their  sect,  who  on  this  occasion  was  the  host  of  Jesus, 
wondered  at  his  approaching  the  repast  without  the 
prescribed  rite  of  baptism.  "  And  the  Lord  said  unto 
him.  Now  do  ye  Pharisees  make  clean  the  outside  of 
the  cup  and  the  platter ;  but  your  inward  part  is  full 
♦  New  York,  April  9, 1854. 


246^  ^™  INWARDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION. 

of  ravening  and  wickedness.  Ye  fools,  did  not  he  that 
made  that  which  is  without,  make  that  which  is  within 
also  ?  "  That  is,  You  forget  that  it  is  God  with  whom 
you  have  to  do ;  God,  who  sees  the  heart ;  God,  who 
created  the  spiritual  part ;  God,  who  is  a  Spirit,  and 
demands  a  spiritual  worship.  My  single  theme  is.  Re- 
ligion  AS   AN   INWARD   WORK. 

In  attempting  to  exhibit  the  greatness  of  the  work 
within,  I  shall  observe  the  following  order:  1.  The 
value  of  single  holy  sentiments  and  emotions,  especially 
in  their  bearing  on  the  eternal  state.  2.  The  conse- 
quent importance  of  the  hidden  life,  made  up  of  such 
thoughts  and  exercises,  and  the  greatness  of  the  Spirit's 
work  in  sustaining  such  hfe  under  the  Gospel.  3.  The 
unspeakable  grandeur  of  the  regeneratiug  act,  as  the 
source  of  this  Hfe,  and  these  emotions. 

I.  God's  scale  of  measurement  is  very  different  from 
ours.  He  accounts  that  small  which  seems  gigantic  to 
us ;  and  often  esteems  that  great  which  we  despise. 
Instances  might  be  brought  from  things  tangible  and 
visible,  though  these  are  not  to  detain  us.  For  exam- 
ple, the  structure  of  a  violet  or  the  wing  of  a  fly  is  more 
complex  and  wonderful  than  the  steam-engine  or  the 
telegraph.  When  we  seek  for  grandeur,  we  generally 
think  of  size  or  of  multitude;  being  governed  very 
much  by  our  own  organs,  or  the  petty  objects  around 
us.  Especially  are  we  prone  to  err,  when  we  compare 
things  material  with  things  moral.  The  two  belong  not 
so  much  to  different  classes  as  to  different  worlds.     We 


THE  INWAKDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION.  247 

cannot  measure  a  good  man  against  a  mountain  or  a 
planet.  We  cannot  adjust  our  balance  and  put  a  gen- 
erous thought  into  one  scale,  and  a  thousand  talents 
into  the  other.  I  may  add,  we  are  perpetually  making 
this  absurd  attempt,  and  weighing  spiritual  realities  in 
our  earthly  balance.  The  evil  cleaves  to  us,  even  when 
we  deHberately  pass  over  into  the  domain  of  moral  and 
rehgious  truth.  In  estimating  the  results  of  pious 
endeavour,  for  instance,  we  are  governed  in  a  great  de- 
gree by  the  eclat  of  the  triumph,  the  pubhcity  of  the 
benefit,  and  the  tabular  show  of  statistical  enumeration. 
The  day  of  final  revelation  may  bring  into  focal  light 
and  glory  some  objects  which  the  world  has  not  paused 
to  look  at.  A  poor  widow  cast  into  the  treasury-box 
two  mites,  which  make  a  farthing.  The  coin  was  base 
and  trifling,  and  the  act  apparently  insignificant.  But 
the  deed  attracted  the  eye  of  infinite  Wisdom,  which 
penetrated  beyond  the  ring  of  the  paltry  pieces,  beyond 
the  trembhng  wrinkled  hand  which  timidly  let  them 
drop,  behind  the  care-worn  face  of  poverty  and  devo- 
tion, to  the  inward  sentiment  in  that  widow's  heart. 
This  it  -was  which  gave  value  to  the  donation.  This  it 
was  which  God  regarded ;  setting  on  it  a  value  above  aU 
the  costly  munificence  of  the  opulent,  above  all  the  splen- 
dours of  architecture  in  the  temple,  above  all  the  glories 
of  Moriah  and  the  holy  city,  nay — for  all  that  we  know 
— above  all  the  material  excellencies  of  this  great  globe 
itself.  Yet  this  inward  sentiment  was  invisible,  impon- 
derable, inappreciable.    When  visitors  were  once  ad- 


248  THE  INWARDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION. 

miring  the  library  of  a  great  prelate,  lie  said,  "  One 
thought  of  devotion  outweighs  them  all."  It  was  well 
said,  and  in  a  spirit  belonging  to  our  subject ;  but  who 
can  bring  forth  the  scales  to  verify  the  conclusion? 
The  holy  thought  is  too  ethereal  to  await  our  tests.  It 
may  be  evanescent,  lasting  but  a  moment ;  yet  there  it 
is  ;  it  is  known  of  God  ;  it  is  the  product  of  his  Spirit ; 
it  stands  forever  recorded  with  his  approval.  Let  us 
freely  confess,  that  in  our  common  estimates  we  mis- 
judge with  regard  to  the  greatness  of  that  which  is 
mental  and  moral,  especially  where  it  is  accompanied 
with  no  extension  in  time  and  space.  "Perform  the 
duty  of  this  single  moment,"  said  the  eccentric  but  pi- 
ous Lavater,  "and  thou  hast  done  a  good  deed  for  all 
eternity."  One  holy  act,  one  heavenly  thought,  one 
upward  wish  of  an  infant  soul,  may  be  precious  in  the 
view  of  God.  Our  notion  of  greatness  is  different ;  we 
should  say  to  a  man.  Go  raise  an  army,  subdue  a  king- 
dom, build  a  pyramid.  There  is  a  sublimity  in  moral 
rectitude,  or  conformity  to  the  will  of  God,  which  we 
are  ill  qualified  to  measure,  in  our  present  state,  where 
every  thing  is  referred  to  physical  laws.  These  laws,  in 
their  grandest  manifestations,  as  those  of  orbs  moving 
in  harmonious  silence  through  the  astronomic  spaces, 
are  only  as  lasting  as  perishable  matter.  The  hour 
may  come  when  the  attraction  of  gravitation  shall  no 
longer  be  as  the  squares  of  the  distances ;  but  the  hour 
shall  never  come,  when  faith,  and  love,  and  the  image 
of  God  shall  not  be  infinitely  excellent. 


THE  INWARDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION.  249 

Does  it  not  follow  from  this,  that  we  are  in  danger 
every  moment  of  miderrating  those  operations  and  ex- 
ercises which  take  place  in  the  secrecy  of  the  human 
bosom  ?  Even  when  we  make  them  objects  of  atten- 
tion, which  is  seldom,  we  rate  them  by  the  visible  re- 
sults of  the  acts  which  they  produce.  But  their  moral 
quality  has  a  value,  independent  of  all  overt  effects,  a 
quahty  which  confers  on  these  effects  all  their  excel- 
lence. It  is  a  solemn  consideration,  that  the  very  emo- 
tion which  this  moment  is  bubbhng  to  the  surface  of 
our  internal  fountain,  may  have  a  world  of  importance, 
may  be  intensely  sinful  or  intensely  holy.  And  on  this 
estimate,  so  much  beyond  our  reach,  may  be  founded 
some  of  God's  awful  determinations  respecting  the  acts 
of  creatures  in  this  state  of  trial.  Of  one  thing  we  may 
be  certain ;  the  infinitely  holy  and  omniscient  Judge 
takes  cognizance  of  what  passes  in  human  minds.  He 
cannot  look  with  indifference  on  the  thoughts,  imagina- 
tions, wishes,  purposes,  choices  and  habits  of  our  souls. 
Shghtly  as  we  regard  them,  each  has  its  moral  estimate 
in  God's  account.  And  this  gives  a  serious  importance 
to  inward  things,  which,  if  duly  pondered,  might  modify 
our  whole  view  of  life.  Now  it  should  be  observed,  that 
all  these  rapid  transactions  of  the  immaterial  nature 
within  us  are  absolutely  hidden  from  the  gaze  of  others. 
Man  looketh  at  the  outward  appearance.  The  subject 
of  these  sentiments  or  emotions  may  be  a  recluse,  the 
tenant  of  a  deserted  isle.  Nevertheless  he  is  a  soul, 
spiritual   and  immortal,  and  there  is  that  going  on 


250  THE  INWARDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION. 

within  him  which  may  outstretch  in  its  greatness  the 
boundaries  of  the  vastest  monarchies.  Your  Hues  of 
measurement  by  inches,  leagues,  or  semidiameters  of 
orbits,  cannot  be  appHed  to  spirit.  That  soul,  on 
God's  scale,  may  be  longer  and  wider  and  higher  and 
deeper  than  the  whole  material  universe.  Its  acts  and 
fluctuations  have  a  relation  to  God's  law,  to  God's 
image,  and  to  immortahty.  Hence  the  great  work  of 
God  is  expended,  not  on  the  mundane  fabric,  which  is 
to  perish,  but  on  the  soul,  which  is  to  last  eternally. 

To  approach  a  juster  valuing  of  inward  things,  pause 
with  me  a  moment  or  two  on  this  last  thought.  Man 
looks  forward  to  an  interminable  existence.  The  con- 
tinuity of  his  being  is  unbroken.  His  conscious  iden- 
tity is  to  suffer  no  rupture  or  suspension.  We  natu- 
rally suppose  that  his  knowledge  will  increase,  and  with 
it  his  capacity  of  emotion.  Now  the  grand  truth  of 
our  system  is,  that  our  immortal  condition  is  to  be  fixed 
here.  Happy  or  miserable  are  we  to  be,  according  to 
what  we  are  in  this  world  ;  and  happy  or  miserable  in 
degrees  apportioned  to  our  soul's  state  here.  The 
character,  though  not  the  amount  of  holiness,  is  settled 
before  death.  The  entire  series  of  our  experience  below 
is  a  preparation  for  what  awaits  us  above.  There  is  not 
a  purpose,  a  desire,  or  a  state  of  mind,  in  this  our  pil- 
grimage, which  has  not  its  bearing  on  the  eternal  career. 
What  importance  does  this  confer  on  even  the  most 
transient  exercises  of  the  soul !  Each  is  the  seed  which 
embosoms  in  itself  a  fruitfulness  of  immortal  joy  or 


THE  INWARDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION.  251 

woe.  Let  no  man,  then,  think  lightly  of  what  is  pass- 
ing in  those  darkened  chambers.  Angels — ^if  angels 
see  aught  of  hmnan  hearts — ^hang.  with  unutterable  in- 
terest over  the  struggles  of  the  spirit,  as  now  it  wrestles 
with  a  strong  temptation,  and  now  emerges  into  light 
and  love.  Man  beholds  it  not,  save  by  some  faint  infre- 
quent indications  ;  but  all  these  workings  are  naked  to 
the  eye  of  God. 

II.  The  importance  of  the  inward  life,  made  up  of 
such  thoughts  and  exercises,  is  obvious.  Reflection 
on  so  much  as  has  been  offered,  will  lead  us  to  recon- 
sider some  of  our  hasty  judgments  as  to  the  importance 
of  that  invisible  work  which  is  going  on  behind  the 
curtains  of  every  undying  soul.  To  the  gifted  eye  there 
is  revealed  a  battlefield,  over  which  principahties  and 
powers  hover,  with  a  wistful  interest,  and  in  comparison 
with  which  the  conflicts  of  a  Pharsalia  or  a  Waterloo — 
if  we  leave  out  the  consideration  that  each  combatant 
is,  after  all,  an  immortal  creature — must  dwindle  to  a 
mere  contest  of  insects.  In  a  sense  higher  than  they 
ever  dreamed  themselves,  is  the  saying  of  the  ancients 
true,  that  the  soul  is  a  microcosm,  a  httle  world.  It  has 
its  periods,  its  convulsions,  its  wars,  its  deluges,  its 
revolutions  and  its  conflagrations.  To  each  of  us,  in- 
dividually, it  is  more  than  the  universe  itself,  being  his 
aU ;  and  this  it  is,  silently,  secretly,  and  without  respect 
to  other  creatures.  Each  soul  has  that  to  transact,  in 
God's  sight  and  with  God,  which  throws  into  the  rank 
of  things  indifferent  the  shock  of  nature  and  the  crash 


252  THE  INWARDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION. 

of  worlds.  The  eternity  beyond  is  made  to  depend  on 
the  character  this  side  of  death,  as  holy,  or  the  reverse. 
Who  can  refrain  from  reiterating  the  exclamation  of  our 
Lord,  "  What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole 
world  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?  "  • 

A  reigning  error  among  all  those  who  profess  Chris- 
tianity, is,  that  we  care  more  for  that  which  is  without, 
than  that  which  is  within.  And  even  when  we  seem  to 
seek  inward  reformation,  we  begin  too  frequently  with 
the  stream  instead  of  the  fountain,  the  external  rather 
than  the  internal.  It  is  a  great  moment  in  any  Chris- 
tian's life,  when  he  awakes  to  the  conviction,  that  of  all 
the  works  he  has  to  perform,  the  greatest  is  within  his 
own  breast.  Even  if  it  had  no  fruit  outwardly,  this 
culture  would  be  momentous  in  regard  to  eternity ;  but 
indeed  it  is  the  very  germ  of  all  fruitfulness.  *'  Keep 
thy  heart  with  all  diQigence,"  etc.  Miaisters  and  peo- 
ple may  give  themselves  too  exclusively  to  visible  activ- 
ity, and  then  the  lamentation  is  in  place,  "  They  made 
me  keeper  of  the  vineyards,  but  mine  own  vineyard 
have  I  not  kept."  This  arises  from  low  thoughts  of 
the  work  of  God  within  the  soul.  "  Did  not  he  that 
made  that  which  is  without,  make  that  which  is  within 
also  ?  "  Nay,  did  he  not  rather  make  that  which  is 
within?  Is  it  not  this,  on  which  his  eye  is  chiefly 
fixed  ?  The  humblest  thoughts  of  ourselves  are  consist- 
ent with  a  profound  reverence  for  the  spiritual  influence 
in  our  bosoms.  It  is  a  great  and  awful  fact,  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  inhabits  the  behever.     "  What  ?  know  ye 


THE  INWARDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION.  253 

not  that  your  body  is  tlie  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ?  " 
If  this  internal  work  be  neglected,  poverty  will  come 
upon  all  our  Christian  life.  The  noise  and  bustling  vanity 
of  the  age  tend  directly  toward  such  disregard.  It  must 
be  opposed  by  renewed  dihgence  in  cultivating  deep, 
inward,  spiritual  rehgion.  We  must  not  measure  our 
attainments  in  piety,  by  palpable  usefulness,  or  the  stir 
of  beneficent  action,  however  much  this  is  our  duty. 
The  grand  afiair  of  life  is  the  building  up  of  the  spir- 
itual temple.  We  may  disparage  the  power  that  is 
operating  within.  It  is  the  common  mistake  of  retired 
and  suffering  Christians.  Because  they  are  not  called 
to  pubHc  manifestations,  they  think  there  is  no  advance- 
ment. But  knowledge  may  be  rising  in  a  compact  and 
soHd  structure.  Faith  may  be  diffusing  its  mighty  in- 
fluence on  every  side.  Holy  devotion  may  be  sending 
up  clouds  of  incense,  acceptable  to  God.  Intercessory 
prayer  may  be  stretching  its  arms  of  love,  to  take  in  all 
the  brotherhood  of  Christ  and  aU  the  family  of  man. 
Appetite  and  passion  may  be  dying,  by  repeated  blows. 
Purity,  like  that  of  Jesus,  may  be  arising  as  a  picture 
on  the  soul's  tablet,  dim  perhaps,  but  brightening.  Pa- 
tience may  be  approaching  to  its  perfect  work.  Sub- 
mission to  God's  chastising  hand  may  be  gaining 
strength  in  the  furnace.  The  world  may  be  waning, 
and  the  attraction  of  heaven  waxing  more  luminous. 
Joy  in  the  Lord  may  be  like  the "  fragrance  of  a  field 
which  God  hatn  blessed.  And  gentle  humility,  the  or- 
nament and  preservative  of  all  graces,  may  be  growing 


254  THE  INWARDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION. 

more  constant.  Is  all  this  nothing  ?  Is  it  not  the  very- 
process  to  which  our  Master  calls  us  ?  It  is  he  that 
maketh  that  which  is  within.  Such  reflections  are 
needful  for  many  a  sohtary  behever,  who  sighs  to  think 
that  no  opportunity  is  given  for  great  deeds  in  God's 
behalf.  "  They  also  serve,  who  only  stand  and  wait." 
There  is  growth  in  the  world  of  vegetable  nature,  not 
only  during  sunshine,  but  in  the  night.  There  may  be 
progress,  even  where  there  is  no  joy.  The  roots  may 
be  striking  downwards  into  the  soil,  and  the  vital 
juices  of  the  stock  may  be  maturing,  while  the  late  col- 
oured flowers  are  folded  in  pensive  weakness  and  weep- 
ing with  night-dews.  Inward,  inward  must  we  go,  for 
the  true  elaboration  of  gracious  virtues.  Let  this  be 
strongly  impressed  on  those  whose  circle  is  bounded  by 
the  walls  of  a  narrow  home.  Let  the  poor  mother, 
whose  dependant  charge  binds  her  aU  day  long  to  the 
humblest  domestic  service ;  let  the  widow,  who  cher- 
ishes her  faith  amidst  complete  insulation  ;  let  the  be- 
reaved lonely  one,  whom  the  world  has  dropped  from 
its  catalogue ;  let  the  invalid,  who  is  cut  off  from  all 
social  labour ;  let  the  aged,  who  wonders  why  a  useless 
life  is  lengthened  out,  know  and  beheve,  that  to  them 
also  it  is  granted  to  glorify  God  as  truly  as  to  the  king 
or  the  apostle.  Let  them  cease  to  measure  the  work 
of  grace  by  the  external  standards  of  a  human  activity. 
Did  not  he  that  made  that  which  is  without  make  that 
which  is  within  also  ? 

The  same  reasoning  may  be  applied  to  another  class 


THE  INWARDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION.  255 

of  instances,  about  which  there  is  frequent  misappre- 
hension in  the  churches  and  even  in  the  minds  of  the 
ministry.  We  too  much  measure  the  work  of  God 
among  men  by  the  single  criterion  of  the  number  of 
souls  converted.  This,  it  need  scarcely  be  said,  is  a 
glorious  work.  But  the  Spirit  of  God  has  other  opera- 
tions besides  the  conversion  of  sinners.  It  is  not  for 
us  to  bring  the  two  into  comparison.  Of  the  influences 
of  the  Spirit  mentioned  in  Scripture,  the  great  majority 
concern  the  inward  work  on  souls  already  renewed. 
The  apostoHcal  writings  are  almost  exclusively  address- 
ed to  those  who  are  called  saints.  Sheep  must  not  only 
be  gathered  into  the  fold,  but  led  to  pasture.  We 
might,  by  carrying  out  the  false  view  now  censured, 
lay  thousands  of  foundations,  without  rearing  any  edi- 
fice. Or  rather,  we  might  seek  to  lay  them ;  for  it  is 
ordinarily  found,  that  where  gracious  experience  in  be- 
lievers becomes  shallow,  there  are  few  conversions. 
Now  the  truth  to  be  considered  is,  that  in  every  renew- 
ed soul,  God  is  carrying  forward  an  invisible  work, 
more  important  than  the  administration  of  a  kingdom. 
How  the  apostle  Paul  yearned  for  the  advancement  of 
this,  in  churches  and  individuals  I  How  he  laboured 
and  prayed  for  it !  I  find  nothing  similar,  in  the  expe- 
rience of  brethren,  or  my  own.  "  I  would,''  says  he  to 
the  Colossians,  "  that  ye  knew  what  great  conflict  I 
have  for  you,  and  for  them  at  Laodicea,  and  for  as  many 
as  have  not  seen  my  face  in  the  flesh ;  that  their  hearts 
might  be  comforted,  being  knit  together  in  love,  and 


256  THE  INWARDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION. 

unto  the  full  assurance  of  understanding,  to  the  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  mystery  of  God,  and  of  the 
Father,  and  of  Christ." 

A  wise  Christian  will  watch  for  the  blooming  of  a 
single  grace  in  the  garden  of  the  Lord,  with  as  real  an 
expectation,  (but  O  how  much  loftier !)  as  that  with 
which  the  tasteful  maiden  looks  for  the  opening  of  some 
cherished  flower  in  her  conservatory.  A  single  grace, 
that  buds  and  blows,  comes  from  God,  and  is  a  thing  of 
beauty  in  the  esteem  of  Christ,  purchased  by  his  sor- 
rows, and  part  of  his  immortal  wreath.  With  what  in- 
tense anxiety  will  the  devoted  florist  attend  the  opening 
of  some  rare  and  extraordinary  flower,  as  of  the  Victo- 
ria Regina,  or  the  Night-blooming  Cereus !  Let  us 
not  be  less  awakened  when  a  Christian  soul  bursts 
forth  into  the  manifestation  of  faith,  hope  or  charity.  A 
behever,  we  will  suppose,  long  infected  by  an  unrelenting 
malice,  at  length  'comes  to  the  point  of  exercising  a  free 
and  full  forgiveness  of  the  offender,  even  as  God  for 
Christ's  sake  forgave  him.  It  is  an  inward  work ;  but 
how  lovely  in  the  sight  of  heaven !  What  an  epoch 
does  it  mark  in  the  soul's  history  !  Call  not  those  la- 
bours unfruitful,  which  are  blessed  to  one  such  result. 
Or  a  formal,  worldly,  lingering  disciple,  is  brought  at 
length  to  an  entire  and  absolute  dedication  to  God  of 
all  the  heart  so  long  withheld.  Or,  some  mountain  of 
avarice  is  heaved  off";  and  the  believer  henceforth  holds 
his  possessions  as  a  steward  for  Christ.  Or,  a  suffbrer 
is  made  to  give  up  his  own  will,  and  bow  with  loving 


THE  INWARDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION.  257 

resignation  to  the  will  of  God.  Or,  hope  suddenly  be- 
comes assurance,  and  the  fear  of  death  is  taken  away. 
These  are  God's  daily  works  in  the  church,  and  we' 
offend  against  Sovereign  grace  if  we  despise  them. 
Because  they  are  inward,  they  can  be  detailed  in  no  re- 
port of  successes ;  but  they  are  not  the  less  to  the  praise 
of  almighty  love.  When  such  flowers  are  blooming  in 
the  garden  of  the  Lord,  we  must  not  complain  that  all  is 
winter,  or  speak  as  we  hastily  do,  of  the  absence  of  the 
Spirit. 

ILL  But  lest  any  should  misunderstand  me,  I  now 
acknowledge,  that  the  greatest  of  God's  inward  works 
is  the  work  of  Regeneration.  It  is  this  which  is  the  root 
of  all  subsequent  growth.  To  this  our  Lord  remands 
the  Pharisees  instead  of  all  cleansing  of  the  "  outside  of 
the  cup  and  the  platter,"  saying,  "  Make  the  tree  good." 
No  change  from  better  to  better  can  be  compared  mth 
the  change  from  darkness  to  light.  No  point  in  the 
history  of  a  soul  has  such  importance  as  its  new  birth. 
At  this  moment  only  it  begins  to  Hve,  in  a  spiritual 
sense.  The  very  transition  into  heaven  is  not  so  criti- 
cal ;  for  this  is  but  the  continuance  of  a  life  already  be- 
gun. There  is  joy  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  of 
God,  at  every  such  transformation.  We  may  talk  of 
great  junctures  in  human  life ;  but  it  were  trifling  to 
compare  any  of  them  with  the  translation  from  being  an 
heir  of  wrath  to  being  a  member  of  Christ.  AU  dis- 
tinctions of  rank  disappear  when  such  a  boon  as  this  is 
conferred.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  few  kings  are  made 
17 


258  THE  INWARDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION. 

children  of  God ;  but  suppose  such  a  case.  Let  him 
be  the  greatest  monarch  on  earth,  and  at  the  most  high 
and  palmy  state  of  dominion  and  glory.  Yet  the  day 
and  the  hour  in  which  he  is  called  to  newness  of  Hfe,  he 
is  exalted  beyond  all  the  pomp  of  earth.  Or  take  the 
case  of  some  Lazarus  of  the  street,  ulcerous  and  forlorn. 
The  Spirit  of  God  touches  him,  and  straightway  he  is 
richer  than  all  the  thousands  in  purple  and  fine  linen. 
God  has  wrought  on  him  the  great  inward  work. 
When  some  infant  soul  is  savingly  affected  by  regener- 
ating grace,  it  is  more  glorious  than  the  creation  of  a 
new  world.  The  same  is  true  of  the  veriest  slave,  the 
Hottentot,  Caffre  or  Cannibal,  who  is  made  a  new  crea- 
ture. Is  it  so  then,  that  we  are  Hving  in  a  world  (the 
only  one)  where  such  wonders  of  regenerating  power 
are  transacted  every  day  ?  Have  we  on  every  hand 
those  who  are  still  ignorant  of  this  mighty  operation  ? 
Is  there  in  our  possession  the  instrumentality  by  which 
God  is  pleased  to  bring  the  dead  to  Hfe?  And  is  our 
period  for  applying  it,  and  seeking  the  salvation  of  men, 
exceedingly  short  ?  Then,  brethren,  it  is  high  time  for 
us  to  start  from  our  stupor,  and  begin  to  long  and  la- 
bour for  the  renewal  of  the  sinner.  I  have  not  under- 
valued other  modes  of  usefulness ;  but  unless  this  is 
gained,  aU  is  lost !  To  be  the  means  in  God's  hand  of 
converting  a  sinner  from  the  error  of  his  way,  is  the 
greatest  honour  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge. 
Most  of  us  would  rejoice  to  save  the  life  of  a  fellow- 


THE  mWAKDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION.  £59 

creature ;  what  ought  we  not  readily  do  or  sacrifice  to 
rescue  an  immortal  soul ! 

How  far  have  we  advanced  in  our  proposed  inquiry  ? 
We  have  seen,  first,  the  value  of  single  graces,  in  an  im- 
mortal soul ;  next,  the  value  of  an  inward  Hfe,  compre- 
hensive of  these  graces;  and  lastly,  the  momentous 
greatness  of  regeneration,  which  confers  and  establishes 
this  life.     Such  is  ReHgion,  as  an  inward  work. 

Tlie  whole  current  of  reflections  tends  naturally  to- 
wards an  apphcation  to  ourselves.  The  Lord  our  Sov- 
ereign is  the  creator  of  the  inner  as  well  as  the  outer 
man.  He  demands  the  homage  and  service  of  the  spir- 
itual part.  On  this  his  glance  of  scrutiny  is  imchange- 
ably  fixed.  In  this  he  finds  the  subject  of  his  greatest 
transformations  and  triumphs.  There  must  be  change 
here,  within,  or  all  is  ruin  for  eternity.  How  vain  the 
attempt  to  satisfy  his  righteous  claim,  by  the  tender  of 
an  external  comphance !  Yet  this  is  the  attempt  which 
besotted  men  are  perpetually  repeating.  The  particular 
mode  of  observance  may  vary  with  age  and  country,  but 
the  rehance  is  still  on  something  which  is  not  the  heart. 
It  may  be  the  cleansing  the  outside  of  the  cup  and  the 
platter ;  or  the  paying  of  tithes,  ablutions,  ceremonial 
sanctity.  It  may  be  alms,  the  repetition  of  prayers,  the 
attendance  on  rites  and  forms.  It  may  go  further,  and 
be  the  profession  of  the  true  religion,  and  the  rendering 
of  an  unblemished  outward  morahty.  Yet  in  aU  this  the 
principal  thing  is  unprovided.  Nothing  has  yet  reach- 
ed "  the  hidden  man  of  the  heart."    There  has  been  no 


260  THE  INWARD]S[ESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION. 

work  of  God  upon  the  secret  motive  principle.  The  na- 
ture is  unchanged.  All  is  unregenerate.  How  can  we 
speak  and  hear  these  things,  without  sending  forth  the 
anxious  inquiry,  "  Have  we  experienced  this  transfor- 
mation ?  "  What  avails  our  external  activity  or  our  high 
profession,  if  the  heart  remains  untouched  ?  One  may 
be  pure  before  men,  and  yet  may  hear  Christ  saying  to 
him,  "  Your  inward  part  is  full  of  ravening  and  wicked- 
ness." Outward  obedience  is  invaluable,  when  it  is  the 
fruit  of  a  holy  heart ;  but  all  the  teaching  of  our  Lord 
shows  that  the  work  must  begin  within.  Obedience  is 
the  child  of  Love.  Prophecy,  alms  and  martyrdom  are 
nothing  without  this  inward  principle.  '*  Though  I  be- 
stow all  my  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  though  I  give 
my  body  to  be  burned,  and  have  not  charity,  it  profit- 
eth  me  nothing."  Has  there  been  a  change  within  ? 
Does  it  reveal  itself  by  new  views,  tempers,  desires, 
joys  and  acts  ?  Ah,  beloved  brethren,  how  much  bet- 
ter are  most  of  us  outwardly  than  inwardly  !  How 
much  higher  is  the  esteem  of  others  for  us,  than  our 
judgment  of  ourselves  !  And  yet  we  know  ourselves 
but  in  part.  If  all  those  points  of  our  external  beha- 
viour could  be  abstracted,  which  are  produced  by  a 
reference  to  human  opinion ;  by  a  fear  of  losing  repu- 
tation as  Christians ;  by  regard  for  consistency  of  char- 
acter ;  by  vanity ;  by  custom ;  by  fear ;  by  shame ; 
how  much  would  remain  of  genuine  vitality,  of  regard 
for  God's  law,  of  holy  operative  love?  If  nothing, 
then  are  We  but  as  whited  sepulchres ;  and  the  great 


THE  INWARDNESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION.  261 

hidden  work  has  yet  to  be  begun.  No  perfection  of 
exterior  service  can  make  up  for  a  want  of  the  Hfe  of 
God  in  the  soul.  The  reformation  of  things  outward, 
and  the  performance  of  good  acts,  unless  from  a  prin- 
ciple of  regard  to  God,  are  only  Hke  hanging  fruits  on 
the  branches  of  a  sapless  tree,  dead  to  the  very  root. 
So  Christ  taught.  So  the  gospel  everywhere  affirms. 
Except  a  man  be  bom  again,  he  cannot  see  the  King- 
dom of  God.  If  those  who  hear  me,  in  conscious  im- 
penitence, would  but  lay  this  to  their  hearts,  it  would 
have  an  awakening  power.  The  medicine  is  very  bit- 
ter ;  but  it  is  for  your  lives.  The  process  of  return  to 
God  is  humbling  and  paiafol,  and  involves  many  des- 
pairing thoughts  of  your  own  condition.  For  this  rea- 
son, multitudes  are  deterred.  But  is  it  not  better  to 
come  to  this  reckoning  in  time,  than  in  eternity  ?  A 
great  step  is  taken,  when  the  soul  is  convinced  that 
there  really  is  such  a  thing  as  inward  renovation,  and 
that  this  has  yet  to  be  experienced.  Shrink  not  from 
the  revelation  of  yourself  to  yourself.  Use  no  profane 
forces,  to  drive  away  the  impression  which  half  awakens 
you  to  say,  "  I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  Father !  "  That 
whispered  suggestion  is  from  above.  Such  stirrings  are 
sometimes  the  heavings  of  lungs  to  receive  the  first 
vital  breath.  God  grant  you  this  inward  work  of  al- 
mighty power ! 


XII. 


NEW    DISCIPLES    ADMONISHED 


NEW  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED  * 


Acts  xi.  23. 

And  exhorted  them  all,  that  with  purpose  of  heart  they  would  cleaye 
unto  the  Lord." 

After  the  addition  of  new  converts  to  the  Church, 
the  matter  of  next  importance  is  that  they  should  abide 
steadfast  and  go  on  improving.  It  is  not  enough  that 
they  should  sit  down  at  the  Lord's  Table,  nor  even  that 
they  should  be  truly  renewed.  Christian  love  will  fur- 
ther desire  that  they  should  adorn  their  profession,  and 
go  on  to  form  a  character  of  Christian  strength  and 
lustre.  The  New  Testament  abounds  in  proofs  that 
this  was  the  wish  and  aim  of  early  teachers  and  breth- 
ren. As  apostles  and  evangelists  went  from  land  to 
land,  it  was  unavoidable  that  they  should  often  leave 
groups  of  inexperienced  behevers,  perhaps  reeking  with 

*  New  York,  May  16, 1858. 


266       •  NE^  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED. 

the  associations  of  Gentilism.  To  prevent  the  perver- 
sion or  vexation  of  such,  was  a  principal  intention  of 
apostolic  epistles  and  visitations.  Tor  example,  at  An- 
tioch,  one  of  the  earliest  centres  of  missionary  diffusion, 
where  the  disciples  were  first  called  Christians,  some 
of  the  brethren,  scattered  by  the  persecution  in  Judea, 
had  been  very  successful  in  preaching  the  Lord 
Jesus.  V.  20  :  "  The  hand  of  the  Lord  was  with  them, 
and  a  great  number  beheved,  and  turned  unto  the 
Lord."  These  are  the  ancient  and  authorized  terms ; 
of  which  we  need  not  be  shy ;  they  '  beheved,'  they 
'  turned  unto  the  Lord ;'  that  is,  to  the  Lord  Jesus. 
Tidings  of  such  conversions  are  always  welcome  to  the 
Saints.  News  came  to  the  Church  which  was  in  Jeru- 
salem, who  deputed  Barnabas,  often  named  afterwards, 
in  connexion  with  Paul,  to  visit  the  new  believers  of 
Antioch.  "Who,  when  he  came,  and  had  seen  the 
grace  of  God,  was  glad,  and  exhorted  them  all,  that 
with  purpose  of  heart  they  would  cleave  unto  the 
Lord."  Such  then  is  the  primitive  strain  of  advice  to 
new  converts  ;  and  it  is  as  pregnant  and  pertinent  now 
as  it  was  then.  But  it  contains  some  pecuharities  of 
expression,  upon  which  much  depends.  Who  is  meant 
by  the  Lord,  to  whom  the  numerous  converts  were  ex- 
horted to  cleave  ?  For  those  who  have  carefully  studied 
New  Testament  usage,  the  question  can  have  but  one 
answer.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  mentioned  just  be- 
fore, V.  20,  as  having  been  preached  to  them,  and  to 
whom  they  "  turned,"  v.  21,  is  undoubtedly  he  to  whom 


NEW  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED. 


267 


they  were  to  cleave.  Sucli  is  the  force  of  the  name 
Lord,  when  used  absolutely.  Here  there  is  the  addi- 
tional reason,  that  the  Redeemer,  as  Jesus,  is  expressly 
named  in  the  context.  So,  v.  24,  when  "  much  people 
was  added  unto  the  Lord,"  we  readily  understand,  that 
as  converts  they  gave  themselves  to  Jesus  Christ,  and 
enlisted  under  his  banner.  And  there  is  special  ten- 
derness in  this  view,  which  regards  entrance  on  a  reH- 
gious  life  as  coming  into  immediate  connexion  with  the 
beloved  Son  of  God  and  Saviour  of  sinners. 

But  what  is  meant,  when  converts  are  exhorted  to 
cleave  unto  the  Lord  Jesus  ?  The  word  is  significant ; 
to  cleave  is  to  clin^j  to  adhere,  to  stick  fast ;  and  where 
the  blessed  Redeemer  is  the  object,  it  is  to  remain  in 
close  and  permanent  connexion  with  him,  so  as  not  only 
to  be  constant  and  persevering,  but  in  perpetual  fruit- 
bearing  progress.  The  unfolding  of  this,  however,  is 
now  to  be  our  topic,  in  a  series  of  brief  particulars. 

The  grand  affair  of  life,  to  be  held  before  new  con- 
verts, is  that  they  cleave  unto  the  Lord.  This  is  so  to 
be  pressed  upon  their  minds,  as  that  they  shall  set  about 
it  with  what  the  text  calls  "  purpose  of  heart."  It  is 
something  that  asks  the  will.  The  duty  enjoined  is 
the  result  of  foresight  and  deliberate  purpose  ;  not  one 
of  those  things  which  we  fall  into,  or  are  overtaken  by ; 
not  a  matter  of  indolent  acquiescence  or  passive  resig- 
nation ;  but  what  we  arrive  at  by  bent  of  soul,  plenary 
choice,  and  a  decision  which  disregards  all  risks.  The 
one  thing  which  the  right-minded  convert  lays  before 


268  NEW  DISCIPES  ADMONISHED. 

him  as  indispensable,  and  seeks  to  compass  by  every 
effort,  is  to  cling  fast  to  Jesus.  This  the  term  imports. 
And,  unquestionably,  the  direction  imphes  that  the 
persons  thus  exhorted  are  already  near  to  Christ,  nay, 
joined  to  him.  How  absurd  were  it,  to  ask  one  to 
abide  where  he  is  not.  These  people  of  Antioch  were 
already  "  turned,"  and  "  added  "  to  the  Lord.  There 
they  were ;  and  there — so  Barnabas  desired  and  plead- 
ed— they  were  to  abide.  By  which  we  are  reminded 
of  our  Lord's  so  frequent  use  of  a  term,  radically  the 
same  in  Greek,  though  different  in  English ;  as  when  he 
says,  "  Abide  in  me,  and  I  in  you  "- — "  if  ye  abide  in  me, 
and  my  words  abide  in  you  " — "  if  a  man  abide  not  in 
me,  he  is  cast  forth,"  a  withered  vinebranch.  These 
are  suggestive  of  many  useful  thoughts  to  newly  awak- 
ened persons,  for  whose  sake  we  must  now  notice 
several  senses  in  which  they  must  abide  in  Jesus,  or 
cleave  and  chng  to  him.  The  attention  of  those  who 
lately,  or  within  a  few  months,  have  acknowledged 
Christ  before  men,  is  particularly  invited  to  these  expo- 
sitions of  the  duty,  which  above  aU  others  now  concerns 
them.  What  is  included  then  in  their  cleaving  unto 
the  Lord  ? 

I.  To  cleave  or  cling  fast  unto  the  Lord  Jesus,  is 

TO  ADHERE  TO  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.      The  Cvil  to 

which  this  stands  opposed  is  apostasy,  or  drawing  back 
unto  perdition.  The  guilt  and  ruin  of  this  were  incur- 
red by  many  even  during  our  Lord's  personal  ministry. 
They  turned  back  and  walked  no  more  with  him.     Of 


NEW  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED.  269 

many  the  apostles  had  to  say,  "  They  went  out  from 
us,  but  they  were  not  of  us."  Salutary  fear  of  so  tre- 
mendous a  folly,  sin  and  destruction,  is  often  a  means 
of  preventing  it.  To  cleave  to  the  Lord  is  the  purpose, 
and  should  be  the  endeavour,  of  every  Christian  disci- 
ple, however  tempted  to  go  back.  The  pilgrim  meets 
many  on  their  return.  Even  if  these  deserters  never 
abandon  the  communion,  they  turn  back  in  their  hearts 
unto  Egypt.  After  the  solemnities  accompanying  their 
confession  of  Christ,  they  give  up  all  signs  of  evangeh- 
cal  piety,  and  Hve  just  as  they  did  before ;  usually  to 
go  greater  lengths  still,  from  having  done  so  horrid  a 
violence  to  their  moral  sense.  But  it  is  the  full  pur- 
pose of  a  sincere  believer,  however  weak,  that  he  will 
never  abandon  his  Lord.  All  unite  in  Peter's  cry, 
"  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  ?  thou  hast  the  words  of 
eternal  life." 

11.  To  cleave  unto  the  Lord,  is  to  adhere  to  him 

AS  THE  REVEALER  OF  TRUTH.       TMs  stauds    OppOSCd  to 

all  departures  into  heresy  and  error.  To  abide  in  Christ, 
is  to  abide  in  his  words.  The  danger  of  the  contrary  is 
great,  and  is  increased  when  the  endangered  person  is 
wise  in  his  own  conceit,  and  thinks  his  own  powers 
sufficient  for  his  protection.  Early  times  saw  such, 
predicted  of  old  as  "heady,  highminded,''  "men  of 
corrupt  minds,  reprobate  concerning  the  faith."  2  Tim. 
iii.  Some,  in  Paul's  day,  "having  swerved,"  had 
"turned  aside  unto  vain  jangling;  desiring  to  be 
teachers  of  the  law ;  understanding  neither  what  they 


270  ^^^  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED. 

say,  nor  whereof  they  affirm."  1  Tim.  i.  6.  And  the 
same  apostle  foretells  a  day,  when  men  "  will  not  en- 
dure sound  doctrine — shall  turn  away  their  ears  from 
the  truth,  and  shall  be  turned  unto  fables."  2  Tim.  iv.  3. 
These  are  sufficient  warnings  to  make  us  cleave  unto 
the  Lord,  as  the  fountain  of  the  truth  which  we  have 
believed.  Let  the  young  professor  beware  of  that 
which  is  mentioned  as  characteristically  the  sin  of  the 
novice ;  viz.,  the  being  puffed  up  with  pride,  the  con- 
demnation of  the  devil.  1  Tim.  iii.  6.  Let  him  sus- 
pect the  zealous  vender  of  a  religious  nostrum,  which 
shall  give  him  in  some  compendious  way  a  peace 
not  warranted  by  common  Christian  experience.  Let 
him  remember,  that  the  new  convert,  whose  appetite 
often  surpasses  his  power  of  discernment,  is  singularly 
hable  to  be  duped  by  error.  Let  him  humbly  decHne 
the  office  of  teaching  that  which  he  has  scarcely  learnt. 
Let  him  be  "  swift  to  hear,  slow  to  speak."  Thus, 
as  new-bom  babes  desiring  "  the  sincere  milk  of  the 
Word,"  that  they  may  grow  thereby,  young  Christians 
shall  acquire  solid  strength  and  confirmation.  In  or- 
der to  all  this,  the  only  security  is  to  abide  in  Christ, 
as  the  Prophet  of  his  people,  clinging  to  him  for  in- 
struction, and  waiting  at  the  posts  of  his  doors,  as  the 
primeval  Wisdom ;  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life  ; 
the  Sun  of  righteousness  ;  the  true  Light,  which  hght- 
eth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world.  Thus,  with 
fatherly  affection,  speaks  the  apostle  John :  "  And  now, 
little  children,  abide  in  him ;  that  when  ye  shall  ap- 


NEW  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED.  271 

pear,  we  may  have  confidence,  and  not  be  ashamed  be- 
fore him  at  his  coming/' 

III.  To  cleave  unto  the  Lord  Jesus  is  to  make  him 

THE  OBJECT  OF  OUR  CONSTANT  FAITH.  This  is  the  op- 
posite of  a  most  easy  and  dangerous  habit,  namely,  un- 
belief. Such  clinging  of  the  soul  to  Christ  regards 
him  as  our  Atoning  Priest.  If  we  ever  came  to  him, 
we  came  thus  reposing  on  him  for  righteousness  and 
salvation ;  if  we  cleave  to  him,  stay  by  him,  embrace 
him,  hang  upon  him,  and  never  let  him  go,  it  will  be 
by  constantly  reiterated  acts  of  the  same  faith.  AU 
strength  and  joy  rest  upon  this  foundation ;  all  fruit  of 
praise  and  love  grows  out  of  this  root.  "  As  ye  have 
therefore  received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  so  walk  ye  in 
him,  rooted  and  bmlt  up  in  him,  and  stablished  in  the 
faith,  as  ye  have  been  taught,  abounding  therein  with 
thanksgiving."  As  preventive  of  the  evils  already 
mentioned,  there  is  no  such  power  in  anything  as  in 
faith.  As  it  apprehended  Christ  first,  so  it  holds  him 
fast.  Not  more  fitly  does  the  babe  lie  in  the  mother's 
arms,  than  the  young  behever  is  recumbent  amidst  the 
pardoning  mercies  and  loving  kindnesses  of  the  atoning 
Lord.  Though  aged  in  the  world's  computation,  he 
may  be  only  a  child  in  experience.  Therefore  he  clings 
,  to  his  strength.  If  accepted,  it  is  in  the  Beloved  ;  if 
pardoned,  it  is  as  ungodly.  Could  his  soul  by  possi- 
bility be  for  one  instant  severed  from  his  Surety,  he 
would  be  as  unprotected  as  ever ;  hot  thunderbolts  of 
justice  would  find  him  out.    His  only  safety  is  in  being 


272  ^^^  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED. 

covered  and  sliielded  by  the  blood  of  expiation ;  and 
this  is  over  him  just  so  long  as  he  is  "  in  Christ."  The 
emphatic  preposition  in  imports  not  merely  adherence, 
but  union  ;  and  this  union  is  set  forth  by  diversities  in 
language,  for  human  speech  labours  with  the  unaccus- 
tomed thought.  Turn  again  to  John  xv.  4,  "  Abide  in 
me,  and  I  in  you,"  "  He  that  abideth  in  me,  and  I  in 
Jiim,  the  same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit ;  for  toitJiout 
me  ye  can  do  nothing." 

All  other  advices  to  new  converts  are  less  important 
than  this,  of  looking  constantly  to  the  Cross  of  Jesus 
Christ.  When  you  cease  to  do  this,  it  will  be  a  breach 
of  continuity  between  the  vine  and  the  branch ;  the 
vital  sap  will  flow  interruptedly ;  and  the  vivid  green 
will  give  place  to  dryness  and  decay.  So  long  as  you 
hate  the  remains  of  sin,  and  truly  repent  of  them ;  so 
long  as  you  feel  shame  and  grief  for  the  transgressions 
of  former  days  ;  so  long  as  you  are  disheartened  with 
daily  failures ;  so  long  as  conscience  challenges  you  for 
corruptions,  you  will  be  constrained  to  cleave  unto  the 
Lord,  and  to  live  under  the  baptism  of  his  cross ;  that, 
with  Paul,  you  "  may  be  found  in  Him,"  "  not  having 
your  own  righteousness,  which  is  of  the  law,  but  that 
which  is  through  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ,  even  the 
righteousness  which  is  of  God  by  faith." 

IV.  To  cleave  unto  the  Lord,  no  man  can  deny,  is 

TO  ABIDE   BY    HIS    COMMANDMENTS,  OWuiug  him  aS  OUT 

Ruler.  Messiah  is  a  King.  This  he  avowed  to  Pilate. 
In  this  character  he  is  received  by  every  repentant  soul. 


NEW  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED.  273 

Every  rebel  who  lays  down  his  arms,  approaches  the 
throne  of  Jesus  and  does  him  homage.  New  converts 
to  any  rehgion  follow  a  leader,  and  are  named  after  a 
head.  To  cHng  to  him  and  yield  to  his  will,  follows  as 
a  matter  of  course.  Entering  on  a  Christian  career  is 
not  a  mere  change  of  opinion,  school  or  party,  but  the 
beginning  of  a  new  life.  Every  one  understands  it  to 
imply  a  new  path  of  conduct.  What  Christ  our  Lord 
demands,  comes  before  us  sometimes  in  the  shape  of 
positive  act,  and  sometimes  in  the  shape  of  forbearance 
or  abstinence.  Either  way,  we  own  his  government, 
obey  his  will,  and  receive  law  at  his  hands.  Either 
way,  we  adhere  to  him  as  our  Lord.  The  hfe  indicated 
by  these  demands  includes  the  highest  morality;  so 
that  it  is  a  solecism  to  speak  of  an  immoral  Christian. 
Why  should  we  cite  chapter  and  verse  ?  The  entire 
New  Testament,  from  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  to  the 
denunciations  at  the  close  of  the  Apocalypse,  bears  on 
its  face  the  prohibition  of  every  sin,  in  Christ's  follower. 
Inward,  secret,  spiritual  sins  are  probed  for  and  ex- 
tracted to  the  hght  by  the  ethics  of  the  Gospel.  The 
conversion  which  does  not,  in  some  good  degree,  con- 
vert a  man  from  his  sins,  is  spurious.  Abiding  in 
Christ  is  abiding  in  his  service,  walking  in  his  will,  do- 
ing that  which  shall  please  him,  and  Hving  to  his  glory. 
And  this  derives  new  force  from  the  consideration,  that 
holiness,  whether  of  heart  or  conduct — ^in  other  words, 
cleaving  to  the  Lord  in  duty — can  by  no  means  be 
secured,  except  by  cleaving  to  him  in  acts  of  personal 
18 


274  NEW  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED. 

faith  and  affection.  But  this  leads  ns  to  another  point, 
which  may  indeed  be  considered  the  very  same  under  a 
new  aspect. 

V.  To  cleave  and  cling  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  is  to 
FOLLOW  HIS  EXAMPLE.  To  cvcry  couvcrt  he  says,  as 
to  those  beside  the  lake  of  Gennesaret,  "  Follow  me ! " 
This  is  more  than  obedience ;  it  is  imitation ;  it  is  do- 
ing not  only  what  the  Master  commanded,  but  what  he 
did  himself.  We  walk  in  his  very  footsteps,  as  closely 
as  we  know ;  that  is,  we  cleave  to  him.  It  is  as  though 
we  took  hold  of  his  skirts,  amidst  the  crowd  of  conflict- 
ing tempters ;  determined  not  to  lose  sight  of  him,  but 
to  keep  him  always  in  our  presence.  The  instances 
are  too  numerous  for  detail ;  let  us  attend  to  two  leading 
cases.  1.  The  Lord  went  about  doing  good.  Sincere 
disciples  follow  him  in  this.  Remembering  what  he 
said  about  the  twelve  hours  of  the  day,  and  the  night 
which  Cometh,  they  are  on  the  alert.  "  I  must  work 
the  work  of  him  that  sent  me,  while  it  is  day,"  is  both 
his  language  and  theirs.  Active  beginnings  are  useful, 
and  none  can  begin  too  soon.  Of  most  it  may  be  said, 
what  they  are  during  their  first  months  of  profession, 
they  will  be  through  life.  Selfish  pleasure,  in  the  com- 
forts of  experience  and  ordinances,  may  fix  the  soul  in  a 
habit  of  religious  inactivity.  Duties  which  do  not  ter- 
minate on  ourselves,  are  not  easily  remembered  by  the 
narrow-minded.  Hence  the  adage  should  make  our 
ears  tingle  :  "To  do  good  and  to  communicate,  forget 
not,  for  with  such  sacrifices   God  is  well  pleased." 


NEW  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED.  275 

There  is  no  stimulus  to  labour,  like  the  example  of 
Christ.  2.  The  Lord  bore  his  Cross.  Sincere  con- 
verts come  near  him,  and  cleave  to  him  in  suffering. 
"  And  whosoever,"  said  his  own  blessed  lips,  "  doth  not 
bear  his  cross  and  come  after  me,  cannot  be  my  dis- 
ciple." We  are  not  to  make  our  own  cross ;  that  were 
superstition  or  presumption ;  but  we  are  to  bear  Christ's 
cross.  Learn  to  expect  it.  Try  your  shoulders  before- 
hand. Count  the  cost.  Ask  yourself  concerning  the 
cup  which  he  drank,  and  the  baptism  which  he  was 
baptized  with.  Many  a  convert  runs  well,  for  a  while ; 
but  the  cross  afiPrights  him.  He  that  receives  the  word 
into  stony  places  "  heareth  it,  and  anon  with  joy  re- 
ceiveth  it."  You  expect  great  perseverance  from  such 
warmth.  Yet  what  follows  ?  "  He  hath  not  root  in 
himself,  but  dureth  for  a  while  ;  for  when  tribulation  or 
persecution  ariseth,  because  of  the  Word,  '  ah ! '  by  and 
by  he  is  offended,"  he  stumbles,  he  falls,  he  is  left  be- 
hind. Many  a  summer-bird  which  kept  on  the  wing 
and  caroUed  gaily  during  the  May  season  of  revival  and 
sacraments,  flees  away  at  the  first  approach  of  storms. 
We  must  make  up  our  account  to  cleave  to  Jesus, 
through  good  report  and  evil  report.  And  in  every 
other  duty  we  are  to  walk  as  he  also  walked. 

VI.  To  cleave  to  Christ  is  to  abide  by  him,  as  the 

FOUNTAIN    OP   GRACE   AND    GIVER   OF   THE    SPIRIT.       At 

regeneration  the  once  alienated,  severed,  depraved  soul 
is  touched  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  employs  truth  or 
light  as  his  instrument.     At  this  instant  of  illumina- 


276  N^^  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED. 

tion,  the  rescued  being  is  brought  into  connexion  with 
Christ  as  the  Head.  At  this  engrafting  into  Christ,  the 
vitahty  of  the  Head  becomes  the  vitaHty  of  the  mem- 
ber. Or,  better  to  preserve  the  harmony  of  our  figure, 
the  Hfe  of  the  vine  is  the  Hfe  of  the  branch ;  all  from 
spiritual  union.  To  maintain  this  union,  is  to  cleave 
unto  the  Lord.  As  the  convert  has  been  brought  to 
Christ  Jesus,  so  he  is  to  chng  to  him.  The  analogy  of 
the  Vine,  John  xv.,  is  explanatory  of  this :  "  As  the 
branch,"  says  our  Lord,  "cannot  bear  fruit  of  itself, 
except  it  abide  in  the  vine,  no  more  can  ye  except  ye 
abide  in  me."  "  As  the  Father  hath  loved  me,  so  have 
I  loved  you;  abide  [continue]  in  my  love,''  that  is, 
*  cleave  to  me  ;  cling  to  me ;  hold  fast  to  my  love.' 

A  consciousness  of  weakness  belongs  to  the  most 
thorough  converts.  HumiUty  is  a  sign  of  conversion. 
Not  a  desponding,  but  a  trustful  humility  ;  because  the 
child  of  God  rests  in  Jesus,  as  his  strength;  and  hears 
the  whisper,  "  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee." 

Prayer  in  secret  is  the  chief  means  of  clinging  to 
Cln-ist  in  this  sense.  In  closet  devotion,  unless  it  be 
formal,  scanty,  or  hurried,  the  young  Christian  comes 
to  the  feet  of  the  Lord,  touches  the  hem  of  his  garment, 
and  gazes  into  the  eyes  which  beam  vrith  love,  even  if 
he  does  not  lean  upon  his  bosom.  Cleaving  to  Jesus, 
he  has  communion  with  him,  in  regard  to  all  his  offices, 
excellencies,  and  divine  graces.  Using  the  word  prayer 
to  comprise  all  devotional  contemplations  and  ascrip- 
tions as  well  as  beseechings,  it  is  the  very  cleaving  of  the 


NEW  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED.  2Y7 

loving  soul  to  our  Saviour  ;*  and  is  the  capital  means  of 
growth  in  grace.  "  Praying  will  make  us  leave  off  sin- 
ning, or  sinning  will  make  us  leave  off  praying,"  Such 
converse  with  God,  especially  over  the  inspired  volume, 
secures  against  defection  and  error,  procures  pardons, 
sprinMing  of  the  expiatory  blood,  and  the  Spirit  of 
adoption ;  mortifies  secret,  lurking,  insidious  sins,  quick- 
ens the  pulse  of  zeal  and  the  pace  of  service ;  arms  for 
battle,  lifts  the*  courage,  and  sweetens  the  cross.  Thus 
may  the  new  disciple  advance  day  by  day,  looking 
unto  Jesus,  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  his  faith ;  cleav- 
ing unto  Jesus,  the  vital  heart,  from  whom  all  the  cir- 
culation of  holy  thought,  feehng,  choice  and  act  derives 
its  impulse. 

VII.  Finally — ^To  cleave  unto  the  Lord,  is  to  cling 
to  him  AS  OUR  portion  and  happiness.  No  one  is 
converted  to  a  naked  sense  of  duty,  allowance  of  obHga- 
tion,  wHUngness  to  suffer,  or  purpose  to  do  right.  All 
these  grow  out  of  discipleship,  but  they  are  its  acid 
fruits ;  riper,  mellower  experiences  load  the  branches  on 
the  sunny  side.  Faith  looks  to  Jesus,  recognises  his 
divine  triumphant  loveliness,-  yields  to  his  invincible 
charms,  and  sinks  with  dehght  into  the  arms  of  his  in- 
finite affection.  Abide  there,  O  young  disciple,  O  re-* 
cent  behever ;  cleave  to  that  bosom ;  hang  upon  that 
arm.  Let  Jesus  be  not  only  thy  Saviour,  but  thy 
bliss.  Let  thy  soul's  utterance  be:  "I  charge  you, 
O  ye  daughters  of  Jerusalem,  by  the  roes  and  by  the 
hinds  of  the  field,  that  ye  stir  not  up  nor  awake  my  love 


27g  NEW  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED. 

till  He  please  ! ''  That  so  high  an  enjoyment  of  Christ's 
presence  should  be  uninterrupted,  or  even  very  frequent, 
is  perhaps  more  than  we  ought  to  expect  in  the  present 
mingled  state,  where  shower  and  sunshine  checker  our 
April-day.  But  if  you  have  not  attained  to  knowledge 
of  any  such  preciousness  in  Christ,  ah !  there  are  yet 
before  you  chambers  opening  into  your  porch  of  early 
profession,  all  replete  with  joys.  If  you  mean  to  perse- 
vere in  a  cold,  staid  routine,  of  heartless,  joyless,  tear- 
less religion,  it  is  not  hard  to  predict  that  you  will  swell 
the  ranks  of  those  professors  who  speak  loudly  and  give 
largely,  while  they  betray  the  absence  of  all  genuine  joy 
in  the  Lord,  by  rushing  with  avidity  into  the  covetous- 
ness,  the  ostentation,  or  the  frivolous  amusements  of 
the  world.  Christ  and  his  joy  need  no  eking  out  by 
the  pleasures  of  sin  and  folly.  God  grant  that  those 
who  have  lately  sat  down  at  the  Lord's  table,  may  be 
from  the  beginning  accustomed  to  hang  upon  the  Mas- 
ter for  their  soul's  gratification.  It  is  when  they  go 
away  from  him  that  Satan  seizes  them  and  wins  them 
to  his  snare.  "  If  any  man  love  the  world,  the  love  of 
the  Father  is  not  in  him."  Cleaving  to  Christ  is  re- 
nouncing the  world,  as  our  happiness.  "  These  things," 
said  our  Lord,  about  to  die,  "  have  I  spoken  unto  you, 
that  my  joy  might  remain  in  you,  and  that  your  joy 
might  be  full,"  xv.  11.  Remark  how  fulness  of  joy  is 
found  in  union  with  Christ. 

This  bliss  of  cleaving  to  the  Lord,  in  a  beUeving 
connexion,  may  be  shared  by  many ;  and  the  disciple 


NEW  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED.  279 

cannot  but  feel  the  warm  contact  of  a  loving  tlirong 
pressing  with  him,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  towards  the 
heart  of  Jesus.  Such  was  the  tenor  of  his  prayer, 
xvii.  22  :  "  And  the  glory  which  thou  gavest  me  have 
I  given  them :  that  they  may  be  one,  even  as  we  are 
one,  /  in  them  and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be  made 
perfect  in  one."  Look  around,  then,  upon  those  who 
are  with  you  in  Christ,  and  resolve  to  know  and  to  re- 
ceive one  another  in  the  Lord. 

What  has  the  text  yielded  us  ?  What  have  we 
learned  to  be  meant  by  cleaving  unto  Jesus  ?  That  we 
hold  fast  to  his  rehgion,  abhorring  the  thought  of  apos- 
tasy— ^that  we  adhere  to  him  as  the  Revealer  of  truth, 
avoiding  every  heresy  and  error — ^that  we  rest  upon 
him  by  faith  as  our  atoning  Priest — ^that  we  kneel  to 
him  as  our  King — ^that  we  cling  to  his  example — ^that 
we  keep  near  him  as  the  source  of  aU  spiritual,  sanctify- 
ing influence — and  that  we  abide  in  him  as  our  ever- 
lasting portion  and  ultimate  good. 

Beloved  friends,  who  have  so  recently  pHghted  your 
faith  to  Christ,  can  any  laboured  application  be  neces- 
sary ?  You  know  this  Jesus.  You  have  found  him, 
or  rather  he  has  found  you,  afar  out  of  the  path,  perish- 
ing on  the  wild  mountains.  He  has  borne  you  back  to 
the  fold,  having  laid  you  upon  his  shoulder.  He  has 
clasped  you  in  his  arms.  You  are  on  his  bosom,  encir- 
cled in  his  righteousness,  held  and  comforted  by  his 
Spirit.  Can  you  harbour  a  thought  of  escape  from 
cords  of  love  ?    "  Will  ye  also  go  away  ?  "    God  forbid ! 


280  N^W  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED. 

Be  exhorted,  "  with  purpose  of  heart  to  cleave  unto  the 
Lord."  It  includes  your  whole  duty  at  the  present 
juncture.  But  for  performing  it  you  need  that  purpose 
of  heart,  that  immovable  determination,  which  can  be 
neither  turned  aside  nor  rent  away.  The  more  you 
ponder  on  the  Christ  of  the  Scriptures,  the  deeper  will 
be  your  admiration  and  love,  the  firmer  your  resolve  to 
be  inseparable  from  your  Guide.  Yet  I  behold  you  in 
weakness  and  dangers,  which,  alas,  you  cannot  apprehend 
aright.  Ten  thousand  skeletons  along  your  way,  whiten- 
ing your  path  through  the  desert,  should  remind  you 
that  professing  Christians  may  fall.  Your  only  safety  is 
in  being  always  near  to  Christ.  The  only  power  which 
can  keep  you  there  is  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  who  at 
first  opened  your  eyes  and  conducted  you  to  the  Re- 
deemer. Pray  that  he  would  take  the  things  of  Christ 
and  show  them  unto  you.  Cry  daily  to  him,  that  he 
would  maintain  your  union  with  the  living  head.  "  Ye 
are  complete  in  him."  Every  thing  depends  on  your 
having  right  views  of  Jesus ;  believing  on  his  name  and 
clinging  to  him  for  justification ;  resorting  to  him  for 
perpetually  renewed  pardons;  and  communing  with 
him,  as  the  Head  of  influence  and  the  soul's  portion. 
Christless  conversions  will  come  to  nought.  Look  to  it, 
brethren,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  holds  the  royal,  supreme 
place  in  your  system  and  your  experience.  Account  the 
day  lost,  in  which  there  is  no  sense  of  commerce  vdth 
the  skies,  and  tender  intercourse  with  the  heavenly 
Bridegroom.     He  stands  at  the  door  and  knocks ;  he 


NEW  DISCIPLES  ADMONISHED.  281 

is  ready  to  come  in  and  sup  with  you.  Open  the  door. 
Yield  to  the  divine  wooing.  Let  Christ  be  all  in  all. 
Beginning  thus,  you  will  assuredly  go  aright.  Lowly 
adherence  to  the  Lord  is  the  very  secret  of  peace,  power 
and  progress.  Never  give  up  your  hold ;  grasp  him, 
keep  him,  cling  to  him,  abide  in  him,  Hve  and  die  for 
him.  "  For  ye  are  the  temple  of  the  living  God ;  as 
God  hath  said,  I  will  dwell  in  them,  and  walk  in 
them,  and  I  will  be  their  God  and  they  shall  be  my 
people." 


XIII 


LOVE    CASTING    OUT    FEAE 


LOVE  CASTING  OUT   FEAR. 


1  John  iv.  18. 

"  There  is  no  fear  in  love ;  but  perfect  love  casteth  out  fear :  because 
fear  hath  torment." 

"  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  clean,"  says  David,  "  en- 
during  forever ;'  yet  here  we  learn  that  fear  is  cast  out. 
Again  it  is  said,  "  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  strong  confi- 
dence ;"  "  be  thou  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  all  the  day 
long ;"  and  "  Happy  is  the  man  that  feareth  alway." 
Surely,  we  may  conclude,  this  is  not  the  kind  of  fear 
which  is  to  be  cast  out ;  but  some  other,  which  is  nei- 
ther profitable  to  us  nor  pleasing  to  God.  And  such  a 
fear  there  undoubtedly  is,  as  we  shall  presently  see, 
when  we  turn  our  attention  to  the  point  more  closely. 
All  these  commendatory  expressions  bestowed  on  Pear, 
relate  to  godly  fear,  which  is  only  another  name  for 

*  New  York,  June.  1848. 


236  I^O^E  CASTING  OUT  FEAR. 

true  religion.  In  the  Old  Testament,  particularly,  as 
you  must  have  observed,  piety  is  frequently  named  the 
Pear  of  the  Lord ;  perhaps  as  frequently  as  in  the  New 
Testament  it  is  named  Love.  Not  that  either  is  pecu- 
liar to  these  parts  of  Scripture  respectively ;  but  beyond 
a  question,  good  men  are  oftenest  spoken  of  in  the  Old 
Testament  as  fearing,  and  in  the  New  Testament  as 
loving.  Indeed  our  blessed  Creator  chose  to  reveal 
himself  in  that  earher  day  amidst  more  clouds,  more 
through  the  smoke  of  altars,  more  in  judgments,  more 
from  Sinai,  more  as  the  God  of  hohness  and  wrath ; 
and  to  delay  that  more  inviting  radiance  of  his  compas- 
sion, in  which  we  are  privileged  to  rejoice.  Good  men 
loved  him  then,  and  good  men  fear  him  now ;  but  Old 
Testament  love  was  much  Hke  fear,  and  New  Testament 
fear  is  much  like  love.  Abraham  and  Moses  tremble 
while  they  draw  near  in  fiHal  belief;  but  John,  while 
he  reverences,  rests  upon  the  very  bosom  of  his  God. 
We  may  be  assured,  however,  I  repeat  it,  that  the  awe- 
ful  reverence  which  was  felt  by  patriarchs  and  prophets, 
and  even  by  the  seraphim  who  veil  their  faces,  shall 
never  be  cast  out,  even  by  the  perfect  love  of  heaven. 
In  this  sense  we  cannot  fear  too  much,  and  perfect  fear 
of  this  kind  does  not  cast  out  love,  nor  in  the  sHghtest 
degree  impair  it.  We  have  therefore  stiU  to  inquire 
what  this  fear  is,  which  is  mentioned  in  the  text. 

Looking  attentively  at  the  passage,  in  its  connexion, 
the  best  key  to  sound  exposition,  you  will  perceive  that 
this  fear  stands  opposed  to  terror  in  the  last  day  :  v.  16, 


LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR,  287 

"  herein  is  our  love  made  perfect,  that  we  may  have 
boldness  in  the  day  of  judgment."  Pear  in  the  day  of 
judgment,  my  unpardoned  friend  and  brother,  is  a 
dreadful  fear;  a  fear  which  you  ought  to  consider;  a 
fear  which  you  ought  to  cast  out ;  a  fear  which  you  are 
beginning  to  experience  at  times,  and  which  may  come 
upon  you  amidst  your  dying  agonies.  God  dehver  you 
and  me  from  the  fear  of  the  Day  of  Judgment !  You 
will  further  perceive  that  this  fear  stands  opposed  to 
peace  of  mind  and  all  pleasure  :  "  because  fear  hath  tor- 
ment." The  original  word  is  used  in  only  one  other 
place  of  the  New  Testament,  and  means  punishment. 
There  maybe  some  allusion  to  future  woe,  or  retributive 
pain ;  but  we  need  not  alter  our  text :  the  fear  we  are 
inquiring  about  hath  torment.  It  is  not  a  sluggish  or  a 
trifling,  but  a  tormenting  fear,  which  is  to  be  cast  out. 
This  great  and  distressing  apprehension  therefore,  which 
true  love  expels,  is  what  we  must  for  a  httle  while  sub- 
mit to  a  thoughtful  examination. 

I.  Fear,  my  brethren,  even  about  minor  things,  is 
not  a  pleasing  emotion.  In  all  its  forms  and  in  every 
degree,  it  belongs  to  those  states  of  soul  which  we  would 
gladly  avoid.  Yet  to  be  altogether  without  it  is  to  be 
either  far  more,  or  far  less  than  man.  In  our  present 
condition  it  is  necessary  to  fear.  The  passion  would 
indeed  be  unreasonable,  useless  and  absurd,  if  we  were 
in  no  danger.  But  the  truth  is,  we  are  in  perpetual 
danger.  Prom  the  moment  that  the  babe  asserts  its 
vitahty  by  a  first  exclamation,  till  the  closing  gasp,  we 


288  ^^^E  CASTING  OUT  FEAR. 

are  in  peril.  The  apprehension  of  evils  is  an  instinct 
or  constitutional  propensity  which  we  have  in  common 
with  the  lower  tribes.  By  this  we  are  enabled  to  shun 
a  thousand  evils  into  wliich  we  should  otherwise  fall  to 
our  destruction.  It  is  temerity  or  foolhardiness  not  to 
fear.  It  is  neither  unreasonable  nor  unmanly  to  fear 
real  danger.  The  child,  the  drunkard,  the  madman  or 
the  idiot,  is  exempt  from  apprehension,  in  circumstances 
where  an  Achilles  or  a  WelHngton  would  feel  the 
wholesome  alarm.  The  pilot  who  should  laugh  at 
the  dangers  of  a  passage  and  go  on  rocks  ;  the  house- 
holder who  should  He  still  in  a  conflagration ;  or  the 
traveller  who  should  descend  into  an  active  volcano, 
might  purchase  the  fame  of  fearlessness,  but  would  die 
as  the  fool  dieth.  The  unmanly  dread  is  that  which 
unfits  for  action,  and  which  increases  the  danger.  Still, 
the  fears  to  which  man  is  perpetually  subject  show  that 
he  is  no  longer  in  a  perfect  state.  Fear,  look  at  it  as 
we  may,  is  a  shadow  cast  over  the  human  path  by  sin. 
It  teUs  of  danger ;  and  danger  whispers  of  penalty. 
"  Fear  hath  torment." 

Other  emotions  or  passions  carry  some  degree  of 
pleasm-e :  fear  carries  none.  No  man  elects  it.  Every 
man  would  gladly  be  rid  of  it.  To  escape  it  is  to  avoid 
an  enemy.  Whatever  may  be  the  object  dreaded,  the 
emotion,  even  when  salutary,  is  distressing.  So  far 
however  from  being  salutary,  in  most  instances,  it  is  en- 
feebhng  and  disastrous.  We  fear  a  thousand  enemies 
that  never  come  in  sight,  and  ten  thousand  that  never 


LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAB.  289 

had  a  being.  We  are  ingeniously  inventive  in  our 
fears ;  conjuring  up  phantoms,  and  adding  to  the  ap- 
prehensions of  to-day  the  wilder  apprehensions  of  to- 
morrow ;  alarmed  for  ourselves,  and  alarmed  for  others ; 
trembling  while  it  is  well  with  us,  lest  it  should  not 
abide  so ;  and  while  it  is  ill  with  us,  lest  it  should 
grow  worse.  Single  instances  of  fear,  constantly  re- 
peated, produce  a  fearing  habit,  till  sometimes  the 
wretched  soul  can  do  little  else  than  fear.  Such  is  the 
case  of  many,  whose  natural  disposition  this  way  is  in* 
creased  by  misfortune,  by  disease,  by  age,  by  melan- 
choly, by  superstition,  and  by  a  sore  and  evil  con- 
science. For  this  is  the  true  ghost,  that  haunts  the 
chamber  and  draws  the  curtain  of  the  timorous. 

Thus  far  we  have  viewed  fear,  as  respecting  the  or- 
dinary evils  and  threatenings  of  common  life ;  its  pains, 
losses,  and  disgraces.  You,  my  hearers,  best  know, 
whether  you  have  ever  feared ;  what  it  was  that  you 
were  afraid  of ;  and  what  it  was  that  gave  pungency  to 
the  trial. 

II.  But  there  is  one  object  which  is  more  particularly 
formidable,  and  the  very  naming  of  which  causes  a  chiQ 
of  dread  to  run  down  your  body  ;  it  also  never  fails  to 
bring  up  some  thought  of  sin  and  penalty.  It  is  so 
terrible,  that  I  seem  to  behold  the  entire  human  race, 
for  six  thousand  years,  at  their  utmost  stretch  of  exer- 
tion flying  from  it ;  yet  so  certain,  that  of  all  these  un- 
numbered tremblers  only  two  are  known  to  have  es- 
caped. Death  is  the  king  of  terrors.  Hence  when 
19 


290  ^^^^  CASTING  OUT  FEAR. 

Jesus,  death's  conqueror,  subjects  himself  to  the  great 
enemy,  this  is  one  of  the  reasons  given  for  that  unpar- 
alleled submission,  "  that  through  death  he  might  de- 
stroy him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the 
devil,  and  dehver  them  who,  through  fear  of  deaths  were 
all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage."  This  is  dehver- 
ance  indeed ;  and  from  bondage.  All  other  fears,  short 
of  eternity,  are  nothing  to  this.  It  has  prompted  men, 
in  instances  innumerable,  to  exertions  which  had  been 
otherwise  impossible.  It  is  true  of  natural  men,  who- 
ever said  it,  that "  skin  for  skin,  all  that  a  man  hath  will 
he  give  for  his  life."  Hence  the  power  of  rehgion 
shines  resplendent,  when  men  "  hate  their  own  Hves ;" 
"  love  not  their  hves  unto  the  death ;"  and  choose  mar- 
tyrdom for  Christ's  sake.  Even  for  worldly  objects, 
however,  men  have  been  found  willing  to  sacrifice  hfe ; 
but  no  motives  have  so  remarkably  taken  away  this 
dread  of  death,  as  Christian  faith.  The  dread  may  be 
detected  by  you,  in  your  own  hearts,  on  a  Kttle  inspec- 
tion. 

III.  All  this,  however,  Christian  brethren,  fails  to 
conduct  us  to  the  fuQ  meaning  of  our  text.  This  is  not 
all  the  fear  that  is  to  be  cast  out ;  even  including  death, 
as  we  have  just  done ;  unless — O  mark  the  words — we 
farther  include  that  for  which  death  is  feared.  Could 
we  die  as  infants  die :  with  no  forebodings ;  with  no 
accompanying  tempter  down  the  valley  to  the  irrevoca- 
ble gate ;  with  no  subsequent  anguish ;  death  would  be 
reduced  to  the  bare  endurance  of  a  bodily  pang ;  often 


LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR.  ggj 

greater  in  appearance  than  reality,  and  not  more  than 
you  or  I  perhaps  have  suffered  ah-eady.  You  do  not 
need  me  to  inform  you  what  "  makes  cowards  of  us 
all."  There  is  a  reckoning  after  death.  Were  you  en- 
sured, in  regard  to  that,  your  chief  terrors  would  be 
quieted ;  and  though  for  many  lesser  reasons  you  might 
indeed  desire  to  live,  yet,  heaven  being  certain,  you 
would  feel  instantly  relieved  from  that  mountain  fear 
under  which  you  are  now  crushed.  Witness,  O  con- 
science, that  our  master-dread  is  of  eternal  retribution ! 
What  else  is  the  meaning  of  our  apostle,  when  he  says, 
"  Herein  is.  our  love  made  perfect,  that  we  may  have 
boldness  in  the  day  of  judgment !  "  Do  not  our  fears 
run  on  before  as  if  hastening  to  that  day  ?  and  will 
they  not  in  that  day,  from  such  as  know  not  this  bold- 
ness, extort  cries,  vain  cries,  for  the  protection  of  rocks 
and  mountains  ?  How  vain  a  covert  "  from  the  face  of 
Him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of 
the  Lamb ! " 

It  is  remarkable  how  extensive  has  been  the  preva- 
lence of  such  terrors  among  mankind.  Account  for  it 
as  we  may,  a  large  part  of  the  human  race  have  had 
them.  Christianity  does  not  cause  them.  They  pre- 
vail where  the  name  of  Christ  was  never  heard.  They 
are  cries  from  the  deep,  dark  recesses  of  human  nature, 
shuddering  before  the  divine  retributions.  They  come 
to  us  from  the  shades  of  ancient  mythology,  echoing 
the  names  of  Rhadamanthus,  Tartarus,  and  Phlegethon. 
They  are  repeated  in  the  burnings,  mutilations,  self- 


292  LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR. 

tortures,  and  human  sacrifices  of  all  generations.  Pear 
of  the  wrath  to  come  has  reared  its  myriads  of  altars. 
Explain  it  as  we  may,  the  fact  is  undeniable.  There  is 
a  profound  sensibility  on  this  subject,  natural  to  man- 
kind. We  doubt  not  it  is  a  principle  left  standing, 
even  among  heathen,  as  a  stock  on  which  to  engraft  the 
true  religion.  Could  we  know  the  whole  reahty,  we 
should  be  amazed  to  learn  how  universal  such  appre- 
hensions have  been,  even  among  the  most  barbarous 
nations. 

Under  the  fuller  Hght  of  revelation,  we  find  great 
fears  among  men,  in  regard  to  their  condition  in  the 
other  world.  So  widely  are  these  anxieties  scattered, 
that  a  principal  employment  of  false  teachers  is  to  do 
them  away.  Once  convince  a  man  that  you  possess  a 
secret  means  of  removing  his  fear  of  eternity,  and  you 
make  him  your  friend.  You  have  touched  the  point  of 
exquisite  sensibihty.  Only  reheve  him  there,  and  you 
have  destroyed  his  chief  enemy.  Hence,  just  as  men 
are  daily  the  prey  of  empirics  and  charlatans  in  physic, 
from  their  thirst  for  dainty  methods  of  cure,  so  they  fall 
readily  into  the  snares  of  deceivers  in  religion,  jfrom 
their  anxiety  to  be  secure  in  conscience.  Otherwise, 
how  could  we  account  for  the  large  reception,  by  whole 
nations,  of  that  stupendous  imposture  of  sacerdotal  ab- 
solution, the  unction  and  the  viaticum  ?  as  though  any 
ceremonial  whatever  could  reach  the  spirit  or  prepare 
it  for  judgment.  Or  how  account  for  that  other  delu- 
sion, whereby  people,  with  the  very  words  of  Christ  in 


LOVE  CASTmG  OUT  FEAR.  293 

their  hands,  set  up  so-called  churches,  to  persuade  men 
that  God  means  to  break  his  word,  and  that  the  wicked 
shall  escape  all  punishment.  These  and  the  like  errors 
invite  the  souls  of  men,  eager  to  escape  from  a  dreadftd 
horror  of  judgment.  You  may  readily  convince  your- 
self how  much  this  has  to  do  with  your  anxieties,  if  you 
will  only  imagine  your  hour  of  dying  to  have  come ;  if 
you  will  only  present  to  your  view  the  bar  of  Christ ; 
and  if  you  will  only  calculate  the  amount  of  rehef,  which 
would  be  afforded  by  the  certainty  of  acceptance  at  his 
hands. 

IV.  These  are  indeed  the  chief  manifestations  of 
that  which  alarms  us ;  but  Fear  has  a  wider  domain 
and  a  more  magnificent  object.  Even  Death  and  Judg- 
ment, awful  as  they  are,  derive  all  their  terrors  from  a 
greater  fear  :  they  are  only  expressions  of  the  Wrath 
OF  God.  This  wrath  it  is  which  is  enkindled  by  our 
sin,  and  which  like  an  infinite  fire  inflames  the  rage  of 
Tophet.  When  we  trace  up  our  fears  to  their  princi- 
ple, we  find  them  fixing  on  one  august  but  dread  ob- 
ject,— ^the  Lord  God  Almighty,  considered  as  a  God  of 
infinite  holiness  and  infinite  justice.  "  God  is  angry 
with  the  wicked,  every  day."  It  is  not  more  clearly 
revealed  that  there  is  a  God,  or  that  there  is  a  Christ, 
than  that  the  Justice  of  Jehovah  goes  forth  toward  the 
destruction  of  the  guilty.  Is  it  not  so  ?  Does  not  the 
voice  within  you,  my  hearers,  testify  to  the  justice  of 
such  fears  ?  "  If  all  in  this  assembly  were  to  rise,  one 
after  another,  in  answer  to  the  question.  Art  thou  pre- 


294  ^^^^  CASTING  OUT  FEAR. 

pared  to  die  ?  it  is  not  likely  that  the  majority  would  re- 
ply with  that  firmness  which  marks  a  thorough  assur- 
ance. Vague  hopes ;  inconsiderate  confidence ;  at  best 
unfounded  reasons ;  these  are  what  we  should  find  in 
most.  Over  us  all  there  hangs,  from  time  to  time,  a 
heavy  cloud,  betokening  the  anger  of  God,  and  his  infi- 
nite opposition  to  sin.  We  may  not  always  have  the  object 
precisely  before  our  thoughts,  as  a  definite  point  in  the- 
ology ;  but  we  are  not  at  ease ;  we  lack  something  to 
constitute  peace;  we  feel  that  God  is  offended;  we 
dare  not  meet  him.  And  what  is  this,  dear  brethren, 
but  the  inward  witness  of  conscience  ?  Por  what  pur- 
pose has  God  placed  this  detective  spy  within  us,  but 
to  give  warning  of  this  very  thing  ?  These  apprehen- 
sions may  vary,  but  they  are  in  kind  the  same.  What 
is  all  this  but  fear  of  God's  justice  ?  Not,  I  beseech 
you  to  observe,  that  holy  fear  of  God,  with  which  we 
began,  and  which  will  abide  in  heaven ;  but  the  dis- 
tress of  a  consciously  sinful  soul  in  God's  presence. 
Ah !  it  is  the  rankhng  of  this  arrow,  barbed  and  poi- 
soned, deep  and  inextricable.  Many  a  one  there  is,  in 
Christian  assembhes,  who  goes  and  comes  for  years, 
carrying  this  hidden  wound  in  the  bosom.  More  suffer 
thus  than  the  world  suspects.  On  this  trouble,  neigh- 
bour does  not  talk  with  neighbour.  Often  it  is  hidden 
from  wife  and  children.  Yet  there  it  is,  a  wounded 
spirit ;  a  conscience  unreconciled  with  God.  Un- 
der this  head  therefore  we  must  include,  in  their  infi- 
nite diversity,  all  the  painful  apprehensions  which  men 


LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR.  £95 

have,  througli  all  their  lives,  in  regard  to  their  failures 
to  please  God,  and  their  sense  of  his  displeasure.  These 
fears  he  in  ambush  to  come  upon  us  in  chosen  mo- 
ments. They  "  bide  their  time."  Just  as  a  malignant 
and  perfidious  enemy  will  sometimes  wait  tiU  his  victim 
is  feeble,  or  sohtary,  or  in  darkness,  and  then  waylay 
him,  dart  upon  him,  and  inflict  the  fatal  blow ;  so  these 
fears  (which  are  in  abeyance,  and  let  a  man  alone  in  times 
of  health  and  wealth,  of  youth  and  prosperity)  gather 
around  him  when  he  is  in  illness,  in  despondency,  in 
bereavement,  in  poverty,  and  in  declining  years.  When 
you  shall  be  in  your  chief  worldly  troubles,  then  I  fore- 
warn you,  expect  your  chief  spiritual  troubles.  If  you 
have  neglected  God  in  your  summer-days,  look  for  as- 
saults of  your  adversary  when  trials  begin  to  thicken. 
Would  to  God,  I  could  duly  impress  on  men  of  busi- 
ness and  of  health,  the  ruinous  game  they  are  playing 
with  their  immortal  souls,  by  procrastinating  this  grand 
settlement  to  days  of  debihty,  pain  and  despondence ; 
to  days,  alas!  that  may  bring  no  opportunity  of 
thought. 

V.  A  clearer  view  of  this  fear  would  be  obtained,  if 
we  could  see  it  in  one  of  its  great  critical  moments, 
such  as  the  time  of  conviction  of  sin.  This  is  a  crisis 
in  the  disease  of  fear.  It  is  not  different  from  all  the 
rest ;  but  now  the  apprehension  has  risen  high,  and  re- 
ceives that  last  drop  which  makes  it  run  over  the  brim. 
God  is  the  same ;  the  danger  is  the  same  ;  it  is  the  soul 
that  is  different.     Its  gaze  is  fixed  inward  on  itself. 


296  LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR. 

David's  word  comes  true,  My  sin  is  ever  before  me. 
All  other  thoughts  are  absorbed.  Instead  of  this  or 
that  blemish,  like  a  single  drop  of  blood,  behold !  all 
has  become  one  gory  vision  of  crimson  and  scarlet ! 
There  is  neither  sleep  nor  nourishment.  No  sorrow  is 
like  this  sorrow,  where  deep.  You  know  not  what  you 
are  preparing  for  yourself,  by  neglecting  repentance. 
This  is  a  condensation  of  many  fears  into  one,  before 
which  the  stoutest  minds  have  been  appalled.  Now,  the 
apprehension  of  God's  judgment  rises  to  an  acme,  and 
the  soul  is  in  a  paroxysm  which  it  cannot  long  endure. 
If  it  continued,  it  might  unsettle  reason.  But  no  au- 
thentic case  is  on  record,  or  known  to  us,  of  any  in- 
stance in  which  simple  sorrow  for  sin,  however  poig- 
nant, has  resulted  in  alienation  of  mind. 

VI.  By  which  we  may  be  led  to  turn  aside  for  a  few 
moments  to  consider  an  injurious  objection.  We  often 
hear  it  said  that  persons  are  driven  to  madness  by 
thinking  of  their  sins ;  or  that  religion  has  crazed  them ; 
and  even  in  some  instances  that  they  have  been  urged 
to  suicide.  Now  I  dare  not  undertake  to  say  how  far 
a  man  who  has  obstinately  rejected  the  offer  of  salvation 
may  be  left  of  God,  even  in  this  world  :  but  after  many 
opportunities  of  intimate  acquaintance  with  cases  of 
what  is  called  religious  melanclioly ,  I  can  solemnly  de- 
clare my  absolute  conviction,  that  the  phrase,  in  its 
common  acceptation,  is  used  in  misapprehension.  Such 
melancholy  is  not  religious,  in  any  such  sense  as  that  it 
is  caused  by  rehgion.     It  is  undoubtedly  true,  that 


LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR. 


297 


persons  are  found  in  a  state  of  deep  melancholy  and 
even  insanity,  whose  thoughts  run  perpetually  on  re- 
ligion. It  would  be  wonderful  if  it  were  otherwise. 
AU  unsound  minds  seize  on  topics  of  high  interest. 
Religion  affords  such  topics.  Just  as  the  disturbed 
mind  fixes  on  property,  family  connexions  or  ambition, 
so  on  religion.  And  this  without  its  being  true  that 
rehgion,  or  even  its  abuses,  caused  the  alienation.  We 
have  therefore  known  the  same  individual  agonized  to- 
day about  the  salvation  of  his  soul,  and  to-morrow  about 
remedies  for  his  body ;  insanely  in  both  cases.  Yet 
neither  rehgion  nor  medicine  was  chargeable  with  his 
aberration.  The  case  of  Cowper,  the  poet,  has  often 
been  cited  against  us ;  but  truly  stated,  it  is  wholly  and 
powerfully  on  our  side.  There  never  was,  indeed,  a 
case  more  striking  of  what  is  called  rehgious  melancholy. 
The  gloom  was  black ;  the  fear  was  desperate.  Yet,  to 
charge  this  to  rehgion,  is  grossly  unphilosophical  as  well 
as  unjust.  Long  before  Cowper's  rehgious  experience 
began,  he  evinced  so  marked  a  tendency  to  madness, 
that,  as  is  weU  known,  he  made  an  attempt  on  his  own 
life.  When  afterwards  he  attained  to  evangehcal  views 
of  truth,  he  received  from  them  his  first  balm  and  con- 
solation. Prom  rehgion  he  received  nothing  but  good. 
If,  afterwards,  he  relapsed  into  a  sullen,  impenetrable 
gloom,  it  is  no  more  than  is  usual  in  such  cases.  To 
all  sympathizing  friends,  instances  of  this  kind  are  most 
trying ;  but  they  belong  more  to  the  physician  than  the 
pastor.     Reasoning  and  instruction  are  for  the  most 


298  ^^^^  CASTING  OUT  FEAR. 

part  thrown  away  on  tliem.  We  must  commit  them 
to  God,  in  the  use  of  those  physical  and  moral  means 
which  experience  has  shown  to  minister  to  a  mind  dis- 
eased. My  apology  for  this  digression  must  be  the 
importance  of  right  ideas  on  this  grav6  subject,  and  the 
fact  that  its  distresses  usually  take  the  form  of  exag- 
gerated fear.* 

VII.  Let  it  never  be  forgotten,  that  much  as  we 
may  boast  of  our  reason,  our  mental  discipline,  and  our 
self-control,  there  is  nothing  at  times  more  beyond  our 
command,  than  our  own  thoughts  and  passions.  How 
much  are  we  at  the  mercy  of  God,  herein !  Who  has 
not  known  the  time  when  he  would  have  given  half  his 
worldly  goods  to  be  exempt  from  one  importunate  sug- 
gestion or  harrowing  image  ?  Dreadful  apprehensions 
of  God's  anger,  whether  well  or  ill  founded,  are  among 
the  most  intolerable  of  all  our  states  of  mind.  The 
citadel  itself  is  assaulted.  The  supporting  power  itself 
cries  for  support.  "  The  spirit  of  a  man  will  sustain 
his  infirmity ;  but  a  wounded  spirit  who  can  bear ! " 
It  affords  a  powerful  argument  against  a  life  of  sin, 
that  the  habits  of  mind  engendered  and  fostered  by 
such  a  life,  are  opposed  to  self-control,  and  promotive 
of  self-afflicting  cares  and  misgivings. 

VIII .  Taking  the  highest  and  most  general  view  of 
our  subject,  the  person  supposed  Hves  in  slavish  fear 

*  Upon  tLis  greatly  abused  topic,  and  on  kindred  distresses,  I 
recommend  a  small  but  valuable  treatise  of  my  esteemed  friend,  the 
Rev.  Joseph  H.  Jones,  D.  D. 


LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR.  299 

OF  God.  Now  what  condition  of  a  human  soul  can  be 
thought  of,  more  unnatural  or  more  destructive  than  to 
live  perpetually  in  panic  with  respect  to  its  Creator,  its 
Portion,  its  Savioiu",  than  to  hate  the  thought  of  the 
Greatest,  Best,  and  Loveliest !  What  more  hopeless, 
than  to  shrink  with  horror  from  the  countenance  that  is 
always  turned  on  us,  and  be  impatient  of  the  searching 
eye  which  we  can  never  escape!  This  is  what  im- 
penitent men  are  preparing  for  themselves  in  greater 
measure  than  they  have  yet  experienced.  Even  now 
they  sometimes  shake  with  terror,  or  avoid  it  only  by  a 
violent  force  put  upon  the  thoughts;  but  the  great 
mystery  of  fear  is  yet  to  be  revealed  to  them. 

IX.  Even  children  of  grace,  in  their  less  favoured 
hours,  in  times  of  temptation,  and  sometimes  at  inter- 
vals, all  their  hves  long,  are  troubled  with  doubts  and 
terrors.  They  fear  to  die.  They  still  more  fear  the 
Judgment.  If  on  certain  rare  occasions,  the  darkness 
is  broken,  and  the  behever,  trembling,  says,  "  Lord, 
thou  knowest  all  things,  thou  knowest  that  I  love 
thee ! "  this  twinkhng  star,  just  above  the  horizon,  soon 
sets,  and  all  is  obscurity.  Ear  be  it  from  us  to  measure 
grace  by  sensible  joys,  or  to  say  that  doubting  Chris- 
tians have  no  faith.  Much  more  true  is  it,  that  pre- 
sumptuous, undoubting  vaunters  of  their  own  cloudless 
skies  and  Pharisaic  assurance  are  in  danger  of  surprise 
and  overthrow.  We  believe  holy  souls  may  be  in  fear ; 
but  we  also  beheve  that  their  fears  have  no  part  in  their 
holiness.     "  There  is  no  fear  in  love ; "  as  our  text  de- 


300  ^^^^  CASTING  OUT  FEAR. 

clares.  There  is  no  happiness  in  fear,  "  because  fear 
hath  torment."  We  should  all  endeavour  to  rise  as 
speedily  as  possible  out  of  this  region  of  mists  and 
clouds.  A  life  which  has  to  be  largely  spent  in  discus- 
sions of  the  question  whether  we  are  in  the  path  or  not, 
is  every  way  inferior  to  a  life  of  going  forward  in  the 
way.  The  degrees  of  fear  vary ;  but  aU  "  fear  hath 
torment."  The  head  cannot  be  erect,  as  should  be  that 
of  a  king's  son.  There  cannot  be  the  higher  attain- 
ments in  piety.  The  mpre  generous  and  stimulating 
motives  are  absent.  "  The  joy  of  the  Lord  is  your 
strength."  Perpetual  fearfulness  is  as  bad  in  rehgion 
as  in  the  world.  It  writes  a  signature  of  gloom  on  the 
countenance,  which  discredits  religion  and  deters  com- 
panions. Heroic  Christianity,  noble  daring,  champion- 
ship for  truth  and  humanity,  call  for  liveher  hopes  and 
unwavering  confidence.  Hence  all  who  profess  to  fol- 
low Christ,  should  listen  with  a  wistful  expectation  to 
every  proposal  of  means  for  casting  out  this  fear. 

X.  Before  leaving  this  branch  of  the  subject,  let 
your  minds  dwell  a  little  on  the  condition  of  those  who 
are  justly  exposed  to  the  perpetuity  of  these  fears. 
Their  conscience,  if  not  seared,  is  a  daily  suggester  of 
evil  forebodings.  They  are  wrong,  and  they  know  it. 
The  thought  of  guilt  is  the  thought  of  punishment. 
This  servile  dread,  though  weU-founded,  has  no  virtue 
in  it.  Were  it  increased  ever  so  much,  it  would  only 
be  more  like  the  state  of  evil  angels,  who  "  beHeve  and 
tremble."     Their  anguish  at  God's  justice  is  mingled 


LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR.  3Q]^ 

with  no  evangelical  sorrow  for  sin :  it  does  not  make 
them  love  God  any  more.  Nay,  it  is  generally  mixed 
with  some  repining  and  rebellion.  It  prompts  the 
question,  "  Why  hast  thou  made  me  thus  ?  "  It  drives 
away  from  God,  and  thoughts  of  God.  Let  this  con- 
tinue, and  it  frequently  issues  in  the  most  vehement 
opposition  to  divine  things. 

If,  my  dear  hearer,  you  are  conscious  of  no  fihal  at- 
tachment to  God ;  if  the  thought  of  God  gives  you 
trouble,  or  exasperates  the  pang  of  conscience ;  if  the 
law  is  terrible,  and  the  Gospel  a  dead  letter ;  if  you 
still  labour  for  the  meat  that  perisheth,  and  stiU  forsake 
your  own  mercies;  then,  of  a  truth,  you  need  no 
preacher  to  tell  you  that  "  fear  hath  torment."  But 
this  is  a  state  which  admits  of  degrees.  You  suffer 
more,  it  may  be,  than  you  once  did.  Who  knows  but 
you  may  go  on  to  greater  suffering  ?  It  will,  indeed, 
be  your  own  choosing  of  death  rather  than  life ;  but 
the  thing  is  possible.  I  have  no  promise  from  this 
book,  to  assure  you  that  you  shall  not  reap  as  you  have 
sowed.  There  is  nothing  in  philosophy  or  scripture  to 
demonstrate  that  the  fear  of  to-day  may  not  ripen  into 
the  greater  fear  of  to-morrow ;  or  that  the  passions  and 
torment  of  an  evil  nature  here  may  not  be  carried  for- 
ward and  developed  in  another  state.  If  death  were 
the  certain  antidote  of  pain  and  fear,  why  then,  my 
brethren,  the  suicide  would  be  the  wise  man,  and  the 
Iscariot  who  went  to  his  own  place,  only  leaped  more 
boldly  and  rapidly  to  that  heaven,  for  which  his  brother 


302  '^^^^  CASTING  OUT  FEAR, 

apostles  toiled  through  sorrows  and  blood.  But  no ! 
you  will  be  the  same  persons  beyond  death.  What 
solemn  object  is  that,  which  yonder  rises  out  of  the 
ocean,  among  mists,  on  the  further  side  of  dissolution  ! 
What  throne  and  tribunal  emerges  from  that  expanse 
of  indistinct  futurity !  "  It  is  appointed  unto  men  once 
to  die  .  .  .  but  after  this  ...  the  Judgment."  Are 
you  athirst  for  salvation  ?  Behold,  it  is  ready  for  you, 
and  you  may  drink  "  of  the  fountain  of  the  water  of 
life  freely."  But  take  care  how  you  flatter  yourself, 
that  as  a  matter  of  course  all  fear  shall  be  left  behind 
you  when  you  die.  "  The  fearful,"  I  say,  "  the  fear- 
ful," are  specially  noted.  Rev.  xxi.  8,  with  the  unbe- 
lieving and  the  abominable,  as  having  "  their  part  in 
the  lake  of  fire."  Pear  is  an  ingredient  in  their  cup. 
"  Pear  hath  torment." 

AU  which  is  presented  to  you,  not  to  sink  you  in 
despair,  but,  on  the  contrary,  to  show  you  the  gulf  from 
which  true  rehgion  stands  ready  to  dehver  you.  K 
"fear hath  torment,"  which  cannot  be  denied, yet  "per- 
fect love  casteth  out  fear ;"  which  is  the  second  topic 
awaiting  your  consideration. 

XI.  That  the  Love  here  spoken  of  is  love  towards 
God,  admits  of  no  reasonable  doubt.  The  whole  con- 
text shows  it.  Immediately  before,  he  has  been  men- 
tioning  fear — fear  of  God.  Immediately  after,  he  gives 
this  ground  of  the  love  intended :  "  We  love  him,  be- 
cause he  first  loved  us."  It  is  true,  v.  20,  in  a  follow- 
ing verse  he  speaks  of  love  toward  brethren ;  but  he 


LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR.  gno 

speaks  of  this  as  a  consequence  and  evidence  of  love  to 
God. 

The  Love  of  God  in  a  large  sense,  is  the  whole  of 
religion  and  the  fulfiUing  of  the  law.  All  the  second 
table  results  from  the  first.  "  Every  one  that  loveth 
him  that  begat,  loveth  him  that  is  begotten  of  him." 
Love  is  a  familiar  passion.  It  is  no  part  of  our  plan 
to  treat  of  its  varieties.  No  agent  is  more  mighty. 
Among  all  nations,  in  all  ages,  it  is  an  element  of  incal- 
culable moment  in  the  problems  of  history.  It  is  the 
moral  cement  of  the  universe.  Just  so  much  order, 
harmony,  and  union  are  there  in  the  world,  as  there  is 
love.  It  is  a  self-manifesting  principle.  We  Imow 
when  we  love.  It  is  a  Kvely,  operative  principle,  break- 
ing forth  into  acts,  services,  and  sacrifices.  This  is  true 
even  of  that  common  terrestrial  love  which  exists  be- 
tween parents  and  children,  friend  and  friend.  It  is 
the  same  affection  in  kind,  when  we  rise  towards  God. 
The  subject  is  the  same ;  it  is  the  same  human  spirit 
which  loves.  The  object  is  varied ;  for  it  is  God  who 
is  loved ;  and  the  degree  admits  of  indefinite  enlarge- 
ment. 

Yet,  when  we  come  to  consider  this  holy  passion  of 
the  soul,  we  must  not  fail  to  take  into  view  one  impor- 
tant trait  of  it,  which  is,  that  it  \s,love  toward  a  perfect 
and  infinite  Being.  I  fear  this  is  not  enough  consider- 
ed. There  are  peculiarities  of  aU  love  towards  a  supe- 
rior. The  mother  loves  her  babe ;  the  good  master  his 
servant ;  the  teacher  his  scholar ;  the  guardian  his  ward ; 


304  LOYE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR. 

the  commander  his  soldier.  Brother  and  sister,  hus- 
band and  wife,  companion  and  companion,  between 
these  there  are  strong  affections ;  but  they  flow  to- 
wards inferiors  or  equals.  The  regard  for  a  superior  is 
something  different.  Consider  the  love  of  one  whose 
life  has  been  saved  by  his  Sovereign.  Ascend  a  Httle 
towards  the  love  of  a  disciple  for  his  master ;  you  are 
here  only  beginning,  at  an  infinite  remove,  to  tread  the 
path  upward  to  the  love  of  God.  Love  toward  one  far 
above  us  is  a  love  tempered  with  veneration  and  awe ; 
and,  as  was  said  before,  this  kind  of  fear  is  not  to  be 
cast  out.  The  soul  bows  and  sinks,  as  wondering  how 
it  dares  to  love.  The  supreme  excellence,  which  fixes 
the  eve  and  fills  the  circuit  of  vision,  and  is  known  to 
fill  the  universal  sphere  of  all  vision  of  all  united  intel- 
Kgences,  the  Lord  Almighty,  fountain  and  sum  of  all 
glories  and  all  beauties,  is  a  sun  too  dazzhng  to  be 
gazed  on  with  careless  eye.  Of  all  human  affections, 
there  is  none  more  solemn.  Words  fail ;  often  external 
acts  of  worship  fail.  When  the  prayer  of  God's  house 
is  most  lifted  up,  and  the  spirit  of  worshippers  most  at- 
tuned ;  when  the  chorus  of  the  great  congregation  is 
fullest,  and  the  swell  of  a  multitude  of  voices  most  em- 
ulates the  choir  of  heaven  ;  even  these  expressions  fail, 
and  the  loving  heart  is  conscious  of  an  emotion  which 
rises  and  soars  beyond  them  all,  till  it  despairs  of  utter- 
ance, and  sits  down  to  say,  "  Come  then,  expressive 
silence,  muse  his  praise !  "  The  fearfulness  of  a  soul 
flying  to  God  in  praise,  is  the  trembling  of  a  dove  that 


LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR.  3Q5 

closes  its  pinions  to  sink  into  the  nest.  "  Return  unto 
thy  rest  O  my  soul.''  It  is  an  awful  sweetness ;  the 
cloud  of  jfrankincense  amidst  which  the  worshipper  lifts 
the  vail  and  enters  into  the  holy-of-hohes.  There  is  a 
perfect  consistency  between  the  reverence  and  the  love. 
The  greater  the  awe,  the  greater  the  happiness.  Be- 
yond a  doubt,  the  haUowed  stillness  and  adoring  fear 
of  heaven  is  more  deep  and  awful  than  even  the  Joy  of 
death. 

What  on  earth  is  more  solemn  than  a  behever's 
death  ?  Yet  what  is  naore  joyful  ?  The  love,  then,  of 
a  soul  toward  God,  is  a  love  of  what  is  superior,  yea, 
supreme.  It  finds  its  object  at  the  utmost  reach  of  its 
ascending  faculties ;  it  descries  that  object  as  infinite, 
and  beholds  it  evermore  transcendiag  all  Hmits  of  com- 
prehension, and  evermore  flying  from  the  approach  of 
finite  powers.  The  soul  despairs  of  perfectly  embrac- 
ing ;  and  yet  it  loves !  Not  one  pang  of  this  exquisite 
delight,  this  dread  enjoyment,  would  it  give  away; 
though  it  knows  that  if  God  should  withhold  his  sus- 
taining hand,  or  open  more  fully  the  tide  of  influence 
into  the  frail  vessel,  the  soul  would  fain  die  under  it.  It 
may  be  that  some  of  those  deep  sleeps,  mentioned  in  the 
Scriptures,  were  compassionately  afforded  as  refuges  for 
sinking  nature,  under  the  excess  of  divine  manifesta- 
tions. Such  was  the  slumber  on  the  mount  of  trans- 
figuration. The  love  of  God,  as  our  infinite  superior, 
has  therefore  a  sacredness  and  a  subHmity  which  fully 
redeem  it  from  all  the  trivial  belongings  of  natural  af- 
20 


306  ^^"^  CASTING  OUT  FEAR. 

fection.  It  is  a  love  to  all  God's  perfections,  so  far  as 
revealed ;  for,  doubtless,  God  has  mirevealed  perfec- 
tions, and  fields  of  glory  in  the  immensity  of  his  nature, 
which  no  faculties  of  ours  can  comprehend ;  hues  of 
beauty  to  which  our  sense  is  bhnd,  and  harmonies  of 
wisdom  and  hohness  to  which  our  ear  is  deaf.  But 
what  is  revealed  is  aU  the  object  of  our  love,  and  this 
love  is  the  principal  thing  in  rehgion.  He  that  truly 
loves  God  is  a  redeemed  soul  and  true  Christian ;  he 
who  loves  him  not,  is  yet  in  his  sins. 

XII.  Some  sincere  persons  have  been  much  troubled 
because  the  text  speaks  of  perfect  love.  They  know 
that  if  they  have  any  love  whatever,  it  is  far  from  being 
perfect ;  and  that  they  have  never  seen  evidence  of  sin- 
less perfection  in  any ;  least  of  all,  in  those  who  claim 
it  for  themselves.  How  then  can  our  fears,  say  they, 
ever  be  cast  out  ?  If  we  wait  for  sinless  love,  we  must 
wait  for  heaven.  Our  love  is  so  faint,  so  far  from  what 
it  ought  to  be  and  from  what  our  God  deserves ;  so 
blemished  by  selfishness,  pride,  and  passion ;  so  inter- 
rupted by  rival  affections ;  so  pulled  down  earthward 
by  sloth  and  camahty ;  so  overhung  by  unbehef;  that 
never,  never,  even  for  a  single  hour,  could  we  pretend 
to  plead  such  affection  as  perfect  love.  Let  me  reply, 
for  this  is  a  hinderance  which  must  be  removed  out  of 
the  way.  The  apostle  does  not  say  that  every  measure 
of  sincere  Christian  love  casts  out  every  measure  of 
fear.  This  were  to  condemn  and  strike  from  the  list 
aU  doubting  disciples;    a  proposal  sometimes  made 


LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR.  3Q7 

by  zealots  and  fanatics,  but  wMcli  we  have  repudiated 
under  a  former  head.  There  is  not  a  man  that  Hveth 
and  sinneth  not ;  there  is  not  a  loving  soul  that  does 
not  sometimes  fear.  And  "  he  that  feareth  is  not  made 
perfect  in  love.''  It  is  perfect  love  that  casteth  out  all 
fear ;  every  the  least  degree  of  it.  Even  then  on  the 
extreme  supposition  that  the  apostle  means  by  this  word 
a  love  that  is  iminterrupted  and  sinless,  he  asserts  this, 
and  this  only,  to  wit,  that  love  and  fear  are  so  opposed, 
that  the  perfect  and  absolute  prevalence  of  one  excludes 
the  other ;  and  further,  that  where  the  reign  of  love  is 
complete,  as  we  know,  for  example,  it  is  in  heaven, 
there  is  no  fear ;  and  still  further,  that  in  proportion 
to  the  increase  of  love  will  be  the  decrease  of  fear. 
The  nearer  you  approach  to  perfect  love,  the  nearer  to 
perfect  fearlessness,  that  is  to  heaven.  This,  I  say,  is 
the  apostle's  meaning,  even  on  the  supposition,  that  by 
the  word  "  perfect "  he  intends  uninterrupted  and  abso- 
lute sinlessness. 

But  there  is  no  need  of  understanding  him  to  mean 
this.  The  word  "  perfect,"  as  none  are  so  fuQy  con- 
vinced as  the  most  dihgent  and  learned  students  of 
the  original,  has  several  significations.  It  is  appHed  to 
Job,  who  sinned  egregiously ;  and  to  any  thorough 
Christian,  as,  1  Cor.  ii.  6  ;  Phik  iii.  15  ;  Col.  iv.  12. 
It  is  apphed  to  that  which  is  symmetrical,  not  wanting 
its  essential  parts,  sincere  and  genuine,  even  though  not 
sinless,  and  though  not  consummate  in  its  degree.  It 
unquestionably  here  points  to  a  high  attainment  in  re- 


308  ^^^^  CASTING  OUT  FEAR. 

ligion ;  no  common  reach  of  experience ;  one  of  the 
summits  in  om*  pilgrimage.  And  it  is  no  ordinary 
fruit  which  is  here  propounded,  the  casting  out  of  fear 
— of  that  fear  which  occupied  our  painful  attention 
just  now.  If,  brethren,  you  would  be  delivered  from 
such  an  enemy,  know  ye,  that  it  is  by  no  every-day  at- 
tainment in  grace.  It  is  a  measure  of  attainable  love 
which  is  held  out  to  us  as  a  sweet  resting-place  in  the 
journey  up  these  mountains  ;  but  we  are  not  to  be  de- 
terred from  seeking  it,  by  the  assurance  that  angelic, 
heavenly,  sinless  perfection,  is  impracticable  on  earth. 
So  much  it  seemed  necessary  to  say,  concerning  this 
love  as  perfect.  It  is  then  the  holy,  sincere  affection  of 
a  renewed  soul  towards  God,  so  exalted  by  divine  grace 
enlarging  the  experience,  as  to  remove  servile  and  tor- 
menting dread. 

XIII.  Having  now  considered  what  this  love  is  (the 
subject  of  the  apostle's  proposition),  let  us  consider  its 
operation,  i.  e.  how  it  casts  out  fear.  1.  Perfect  love 
casts  out  fear,  because  it  is  founded  on  just  views  of 
God.  No  unconverted  person  has  just  views  of  God. 
If  he  knew  God,  he  would  be  saved.  "  This  is  eternal 
life,  to  know  Thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ, 
whom  thou  hast  sent."  No  person,  under  the  anguish 
of  an  alienated  mindji  under  pangs  of  conscience  and 
dead  works,  under  legal  horrors,  under  self-condemn- 
ing lashes  of  remorse,  has  just  views  of  God.  All 
slavish  fear  regards  God  in  a  distorted  manner.  It 
may  not   overrate  his  Justice  or  his  Wrath,  but  it 


LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR.  gQg 

amazingly  underrates  his  Mercy  and  his  grace.  "  God 
is  love ;"  and  the  sight  of  this  is  connected  with  all  true 
beheving.  To  see  God,  is  to  see  his  love.  To  see  the 
Gospel,  is  to  see  its  grace.  It  is  believing.  Faith  is  a 
reception  of  God's  character,  as  a  God  of  infinite  grace 
and  mercy.  Even  true  Christians,  in  those  hours  when 
they  have  servile  fears  and  are  tormented  about  their 
future  destiny,  are  guilty  of  lapses  in  their  faith ;  they 
cease  to  believe  in  some  respects ;  they  lose  their  hold 
in  part  on  some  divine  truth ;  they  look  at  their  Re- 
deemer under  false  Hghts ;  in  a  word,  they  have  not 
just  views  of  God. 

Do  not  misunderstand  me,  as  if  I  made  love  the  source 
of  faith.  Some  have  so  taught ;  but  in  so  doing,  have 
made  a  preposterous  derangement  of  cause  and  effect. 
We  freely  own,  that  between  the  affections  and  the  un- 
derstanding, as  also  between  love  and  faith,  there  is  a 
reciprocity  of  action.  He  who  loves  most,  will  be  most 
able  and  ready  to  believe.  If  any  man  do  Christ's  will, 
he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine.  Right  affections  tend  to 
clear  vision.  "  The  pure  in  heart  shall  see  God."  This- 
is  undeniable ;  but  this  is  not  what  we  mean  at  present. 
Faith  precedes  love.  We  must  perceive  the  amiable 
qualities  of  divinity  before  we  love  them.  It  is  the 
order  of  nature  and  the  order  of  grace.  But  when  that 
regenerating  word  is  spoken,  whereby  the  dead  soul 
awakes,  and  the  bhnd  soul  is  enHghtened,  the  same  fiat 
that  results  in  just  views  of  God,  results  in  love  for 


310  I'OVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAK. 

those  august  glories  whicli  begin  to  expand  before  the 
enraptured  vision. 

Now,  the  very  views  of  God's  character  which  pro- 
duce eminent  love,  do  at  the  same  time  remove  fear. 
You  once  thought  of  God  as  a  hard  master,  an  austere 
judge,  if  not  a  tyrant.  You  trembled  as  the  slave  at 
the  lash.  You  dared  not  come  to  God  with  any  inti- 
macy of  approach,  not  even  with  fihal  beseeching.  You 
regarded  religion  as  a  hard  service,  however  neces- 
sary for  escaping  from  hell ;  and  conversion  as  a  repul- 
sive humbhng  process,  which  you  would  gladly  put  oiff 
as  far  as  possible.  You  often  tried  to  disabuse  yourself 
of  your  early  impressions  respecting  God,  and  to  make 
him  out  such  a  one  as  yourself :  as  tolerant  of  sin  and 
as  regardless  of  his  word.  And,  failing  of  this,  you 
earnestly  sought  to  flee  from  his  presence.  If  sudden 
danger,  or  violent  illness  and  possible  death,  came  on 
you,  how  terrific  and  black  were  all  your  thoughts  of 
God  1  You  beheld  in  him  every  thing  rather  than  the 
Friend  and  Father;  and  you  were  ready  to  quarrel 
with  the  system  of  doctrine  which  exalts  his  immaculate 
purity  and  inflexible  justice ;  as  if  by  your  prejudices 
you  could  undo  the  reahty  of  God's  attributes.  Was 
not  this  the  view  you  habitually  took  of  God  ?  It  was 
totally  false,  grossly  unjust  to  your  Maker  and  Re- 
deemer, perverse,  absurd,  and  ungrateful.  O,  the 
blessed  change,  when  grace  opened  your  eyes  !  How 
you  looked  on  God,  as  on  a  new  discovery.  How  the 
famihar  words,  which  tell  of  him  in  hymns  and  cate- 


LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR.  ^\\ 

chisms,  seemed  a  fresli  revelation.  Now  you  wondered 
how  you  could  ever  have  had  doubts  and  misgivings 
about  him  who  is  the  most  Blessed  and  the  most  Lov- 
ing. You  charged  your  souls  with  the  sin  of  having 
lived  with  your  chief  friend  so  long,  as  though  he  had 
been  your  chief  enemy.  New  Hght  has  broken  in  on 
your  ceU.  You  contemplate  Jehovah  as  the  infinitude 
of  moral  perfection ;  you  are  absorbed  in  the  contem- 
plation ;  and  own  that  you  were  made  capable  of  love 
in  order  that  you  might  love  such  a  being. 

Now,  my  brethren,  these  are  just  views  of  God ; 
though  infinitely  below  the  truth.  And  so  beholding 
Jehovah,  as  containing  in  himself  all  that  is  entrancing- 
ly  excellent,  and  all  that  is  boundlessly  benevolent,  in- 
efiably  pure  and  great,  and  immeasurably  communica- 
tive of  happiness  to  his  creatures,  you  found  your  love 
on  a  view,  which  at  the  very  same  time  forbids  you  to 
fear.  What  place  is  left  for  servile  fear  ?  If  any,  it 
must  be  in  some  disbehef  of  such  a  character  in  God. 
Admitting  this,  you  cannot  but  draw  nigh.  These  as- 
pects of  the  divine  nature  are  attractive.  They  draw 
the  soul  in  confidence.  They  command  the  affections 
in  fihal  repose.  Nothing  conceivable  can  so  expel 
doubts  and  terrors  as  the  true  beholding  of  God  as  he 
is;  and  love  and  confidence  are  twin  streams  which 
perpetually  mingle  their  waters. 

2.  Perfect  love  casts  out  fear,  because  it  is  founded 
on  a  belief  of  God's  love  to  us.  Consider  what  is  the 
reason  of  all  our  rehgious  fears.     Is  it  not  that  we  ap- 


312  LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR. 

prehend  that  God  does  not  love  us  ?  For  if  he  really 
loves  us,  and  intends  our  salvation,  fear  on  this  point  is 
shut  out ;  it  were  insane  to  fear.  Only  acquire  the  un- 
wavering conviction  that  God  regards  you  with  com- 
passionate kindness,  and  your  dread  of  all  consequences 
vanishes.  Just  in  proportion  as  you  credit  this  con- 
ceniing  God,  just  in  proportion  as  you  know  him  to  be 
on  your  side,  will  you  be  raised  above  fear.  Now,  my 
brethren,  I  pray  you  to  perceive,  for  it  is  the  main  dis- 
covery of  the  New  Testament,  that  the  revelation  which 
you  need  to  banish  your  fear,  is  the  very  revelation 
which  the  Gospel  was  sent  to  make.  The  Gospel  is 
none  other  than  a  declaration  of  God's  stupendous 
method  of  saving  sinners.  The  belief  of  the  Gospel  is 
behef  of  this ;  it  is  behef  that  God  is  your  friend.  It 
is  a  looking  out  of  the  soul  upon  God  as  a  God  of  love, 
giving  himself  to  us  as  a  Saviour.  And  it  is  this  view 
of  God  and  this  behef  of  the  Gospel  which  is  the  cause 
of  that  love  which  casteth  out  fear.  Do  you  doubt 
this  ?  Just  call  to  mind  those  portions  of  your  expe- 
rience which  coincide  with  the  matter  in  hand.  Recol- 
lect what  change  of  views  made  a  change  of  affections ; 
what  it  was  that  melted  you  into  love.  Was  it  not 
your  sudden  apprehension  of  the  truth  that,  notwith- 
standing all  your  sins,  God  loved  you?  Was  it 
not  your  coming  all  at  once  to  recognise  the  neglected 
truth,  that  even  your  greatest  transgressions  could  not 
keep  you  from  the  enjoyment  of  God's  compassion,  if 
you  would  but  accept  it  in  the  Gospel  ?    And  is  not 


LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR.  3^3 

this  just  what  the  apostle  says  ?  v.  14  :  "  And  we  have 
seen  and  do  testify,  that  the  Father  sent  the  Son  to  be 
the  Saviour  of  the  world."  v.  16  :  "And  we  have  known 
and  believed  the  love  that  God  hath  to  us!^  Mark,  my 
brethren,  what  it  is  that  we  have  known  and  beheved. 
"  God  is  Love  :  and  he  that  dwelleth  in  love  dwelleth  in 
God,  and  God  in  him."  There  is  no  fear  in  love.  "  We 
love  him  because  he  first  loved  us."  Here  we  have 
arrived  at  the  sacred  fount  of  love  to  God.  It  flows 
from  a  belief  of  God's  love  to  us.  "  We  love  him  be- 
cause he  first  loved  us."  Some  interpreters,  I  know, 
in  order  to  hold  up  a  metaphysical  scheme  of  disinter- 
ested benevolence  as  the  sole  essence  of  virtue,  would 
explain  this  verse  to  mean  only  that  unless  God  had 
loved  us  first,  we  never  should  have  loved  him :  they 
deny  that  our  view  of  his  love  to  us  is  a  source  of  our 
love  to  him ;  they  exclude  all  love  of  gratitude,  as  self- 
ish. They  might  as  well  exclude  aU  human  nature,  or 
all  the  gush  of  blood  from  these  hearts.  Every  true 
convert,  unspoiled  by  inventions  of  sophistry,  feels 
the  warm  current  of  his  soul  going  forth  in  love  to 
God,  for  this  very  reason,  and  undert  his  very  motive, 
that  God  has  loved  him.  It  is  true,  we  love  God  for 
what  he  is  in  himself.  But  the  greatest,  most  intelli- 
gible, and  most  afiecting  view  of  what  God  is  in  him- 
self, is  the  view  of  tohat  he  is  to  us,  of  his  unspeakable 
love  in  redemption.  And  no  man  ever  so  loves  as  when 
he  beholds  this  love  of  God  to  himself  most  clearly. 
Brethren,  it  would  be  unpardonable  in  me  not  to 


314  I'^^  CASTING  OUT  FEAR. 

say,  that  the  highest  demonstration  of  this  divine  pity 
is  in  the  incarnation  and  death  of  Jesus  Christ.  "  The 
Father  sent  the  Son  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world." 
It  is  therefore  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  that  our  love  is 
most  awakened,  and  that  our  hearts  are  melted  by  the 
blood  of  Jesus.  For  the  same  reason,  it  is  at  this  cross 
that  our  fears  are  most  removed.  Faith,  hope  and  love 
mingle  their  tribute  just  here.  Terror  cannot  abide 
where  the  Son  of  the  Highest  is  seen  dying  for  our  sins. 
All  the  unworthy  fears  of  awakened  sinners  arise  from 
their  keeping  away  from  the  Cross.  Bring  your  hearts 
hither,  and  your  apprehensions  will  depart,  like  birds  of 
night  at  the  dawning. 

3.  Perfect  love  casts  out  fear,  because  it  is  of  the 
very  nature  of  love  to  promote  confidence.  The  princi- 
ple is  familiar.  Select  your  instances  where  you  please, 
and  you  shall  find  this  gentle,  generous  passion  always 
trustful.  I  have  heard  of  jealousy  as  the  ofispring  of 
love ;  I  never  beHeved  it.  This  foul  spirit  comes  of 
pride,  selfishness  and  envy.  True  love  rests  on  the  ob- 
ject beloved,  with  all  the  repose  of  certainty ;  even  in 
human  attachments.  But  when  the  soul  flows  forth 
towards  infinite  perfection  and  eternal  love,  it  can  no 
more  suspect  than  it  can  hate.  The  same  state  of  mind 
which  looks  to  God  with  admiration  and  gratitude, 
looks  to  him  with  hope.  Those  fears,  which  we  must 
entertain  towards  an  enemy,  or  an  untried  friend,  would 
be  treacherous  towards  one  who  commands  our  su- 
preme attachment.    The  more  childlike  your  affection, 


LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR.  3^5 

the  fuller  your  confidence.  The  child  in  the  mother's 
arms  has  its  little  heart  poisoned  by  no  misgivings  as 
to  the  power  or  will  of  that  mother  to  do  it  good.  As 
Httle  can  the  renewed  soul,  while  in  the  exercise  of  love 
to  God,  harbour  any  slavish  terrors.  Let  it  ascend 
higher  in  its  contemplations  of  divine  excellence,  and  in 
the  flight  of  its  adventurous  admiration ;  let  it  expa- 
tiate upon  this  ocean  of  magnificent  beauty  and  awful 
grace ;  let  it  become  so  lost  in  the  abundance  of  these 
attributes  as  to  forget  self  altogether ;  let  it  surrender 
itself  a  captive,  smitten  by  the  celestial  fascinations  of 
immutable  and  endless  Wisdom,  Might,  Piuity,  Recti- 
tude, Truth  and  Grace ;  let  it  enter  into  the  bleeding 
chamber  where  these  are  all  blended  in  the  dying  Im- 
manuel ;  and  here,  where  love  is  reigning,  it  will  feel 
that  Pear  is  cast  out.  Hope  meanwhile  spreads  the 
untiring  wing,  and  sets  forth  upon  the  eternal  flight. 

In  these  three  ways,  then,  we  observe  love  casting 
out  fear ;  as  founded  on  just  views  of  God ;  as  caused 
by  belief  of  God's  love  to  us  ;  and  as,  of  its  very  nature, 
leading  to  confidence. 

XIV.  Now  let  us  hasten  towards  our  close  by  press- 
ing this,  as  the  grand  import  of  the  text :  that  the  more 
love  the  less  fear.  If  there  is  no  love,  then  fear  is  domi- 
nant. If  there  is  Httle  love,  there  is  great  fear.  If  love 
is  flickering  and  inconstant,  there  is  perpetual  iaterrup- 
tion  from  doubt  and  terror.  If  love  to  God  is  gaining 
the  upper  hand,  and  even  by  many  blows  and  hard 
conflicts  coming  to  abide  in  love,  then  the  habit  of  mis- 


315  LOVE  CASTma  out  fear. 

giving  and  apprehension  is  broken,  and,  as  we  often 
observe,  even  in  chambers  of  illness  and  old  age,  the 
expectation  of  heaven  becomes  in  a  measure  constant. 
Does  not  all  this  reveal  a  certain  line  of  direction,  a  ten- 
dency, a  rising  towards  perfection  ?  If  the  love  could 
at  any  moment  become  sinless,  and  drop  its  last  weight, 
how  joyfully  would  the  soul  rise  from  the  realm  of 
doubt,  and  leave  all  fears  forever  behind  it !  Brethren,- 
it  shall  so  rise  !  Presently  this  mortal  shall  put  on  im- 
mortality, and  death  be  swallowed  up  in  victory.  Our 
imperfect  views  of  God,  even  here,  are  the  chief  cor- 
rective of  fears ;  but  "  when  that  which  is  perfect  is 
come,  then  that  which  is  in  part  shall  be  done  away." 
Then  wiU  be  brought  to  pass  the  saying,  that  "  perfect 
love  casteth  out  fear." 

There  is  a  practical  direction  of  great  importance  to 
be  derived  from  the  doctrine  which  has  occupied  so  un- 
usual a  portion  of  our  thoughts  this  day.  If  you  desire 
to  be  rid  of  those  fears  which  vex  and  disturb  you, 
seek  to  abound  in  the  love  of  God.  Give  over  those 
fruitless  endeavom's  to  calm  your  mind  by  perpetual 
probing  of  its  wounds,  and  brooding  over  its  corrup- 
tions. You  knock  at  the  wrong  door,  if  you  seek  the 
cure  of  fears  from  law.  The  Law  has  no  such  office. 
The  Law  threatens  wrath.  The  Law  condemns  and 
slays.  The  shortest  and  surest  way  to  be  bold  even 
"  in  the  day  of  judgment,"  is  to  "  dwell  in  love."  And 
where  did  the  beloved  disciple  learn  this  love,  but  on 
the  bosom  of  Jesus  Christ  ?     One  irradiation  of  love. 


LOVE  CASTING  OUT  FEAR.  3]^^ 

like  the  roseate  tints  of  evening  sky,  suffuses  this  whole 
epistle.  These  swan-lite  notes  befit  the  serene  old  age 
of  such  an  apostle.  His  great  argument  even  against 
the  world  is  love.  "  If  any  man  love  the  world,  the 
love  of  the  Father  is  not  in  him."  "  He  that  loveth 
not,  knoweth  not  God,  for  God  is  love."  "  In  this  was 
manifested  the  love  of  God  toward  us,  because  that 
God  sent  his  Only-Begotten  Son  into  the  world,  that 
we  might  five  through  him."  iv.  9.  The  lesson  is 
learnt  of  Christ ;  and  Christ  is  apprehended  by  faith. 
All  your  doubtings  will  give  way  before  just  apprehen- 
sions of  gospel  grace.  If  you  are  still  harassed,  still 
in  occasional  darkness  and  tremor,  it  shows  that  you 
still  entertain  some  erroneous  views  of  Christ  and  his 
work.  Ptirge  out  this  leaven  of  the  Pharisees.  Come 
to  the  Redeemer  for  a  whole  salvation.  Add  no  jot  or 
tittle  of  your  own.  See  the  things  that  are  freely  given 
you  of  God.  Love  him  that  first  loved  you,  and  while 
you  sink  into  his  arms,  and  surrender  aU  to  him,  with 
a  joyful,  absolute  self-renunciation,  let  this  confiding 
love  swell  and  abound,  till  every  figment  of  distrust 
shall  be  swept  away.  '  For,  against  every  challenge,  in 
time  or  eternity,  this  may  be  your  rejoinder :  "  He  that 
spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  delivered  him  up  for  us 
all ;  how  shall  he  not,  with  him,  also  freely  give  us  all 
things ! " 


XIV. 

THE  YOUNG  AMEEICAN  CHRISTIAN 


THE  YOUNG  AMEKICAN  CHRISTIAN* 


1  COEINTHIANS  Xvi.  13. 

"  "Watch  ye,  stand  fast  in  the  faith,  quit  you  like  men,  be  strong." 

We  live  at  a  time  when  our  ears  have  again  become 
famihar  with  reports  of  warfare.  It  is  easy  therefore 
for  us  to  imagine  a  general  surveying  his  forces  as  they 
disembark  from  their  transports  upon  a  foreign  shore. 
If  now  we  should  suppose  him,  as  commanders  are 
wont  to  do,  about  to  harangu.e  his  troops,  what  would 
suggest  itself  as  his  most  welcome  mode  of  address  ? 
Shall  he  say  to  them,  "  Soldiers,  I  rejoice  to  inform  you 
that  you  are  about  to  experience  no  struggles  nor  blood- 
shed ;  no  battle  awaits  you ;  all  enemies  have  vanished 
from  the  land."  Assuredly  not,  you  reply.  This  were 
to  insult  their  valour  and  mock  their  expectations.   It  is 

*  ITew  York,  January  28,  1855. 
21 


322  THE  YOUNG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN. 

for  conflict  that  the  soldier  girds  himself;  and  especially 
to  youthful  enterprise  and  courage  there  is  invitation  in 
the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  and  incitement  in  the  call  to 
arms.  Nor  can  the  Christian  combatant  go  through 
liis  campaign  without  hardship  and  blows.  The  Apostle 
Paul  therefore  addresses  youthful  Timothy  thus :  "  Thou 
therefore  endure  hardness,  as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus 
Christ;"  or  thus :  "Tight  the  good  fight  of  faith,  lay 
hold  on  eternal  life,  whereunto  thou  art  called,  and 
hast  witnessed  a  good  profession  before  many  wit- 
nesses ; "  or  thus :  "  Thou  therefore,  my  son,  be  strong  in 
the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus."  All  these  are  warn- 
ings of  that  opposition,  contest,  and  difficult  struggle 
which  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  believer,  and  for  which  much 
force  of  resistance  and  assault  is  required.  In  the  text 
this  idea  is  manifestly  present,  and  the  Christian  war- 
rior is  addressed  in  terms  which  sound  of  the  camp  and 
the  army :  "  Watch  ye,"  be  awake,  on  your  guard ; 
vigilantly  looking  out  for  the  enemy,  armed  at  every 
point,  prepared  against  every  surprise,  sensible  of  your 
danger  and  your  weakness,  and  forewarned  against  your 
malignant  and  insidious  enemy.  "  Stand  fast  in  the 
faith ;  "  know  the  truth,  beheve  it,  believe  it  strongly ; 
chng  to  it,  against  all  ridicule,  loss,  and  persecution ; 
be  firm  and  constant  in  adherence  to  Christ,  the  great 
object  of  faith,  and  source  of  power.  "  Quit  you  like 
men ; "  the  result  of  vigilance  and  assured  faith ;  act 
the  manly  part.  Thus  Joab  said  to  his  party  on  a 
noted  occasion  :  *'  Be  of  good  courage,  and  let  us  play 


THE  TOTING  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN.  323 

the  men  for  our  people,  and  for  the  cities  of  our  God," 
2  Sam.  X.  12.  Exhibit  the  high  intrepid  bearing  which 
becomes  Christians,  acting  in  the  name  and  for  the 
honour  of  their  Redeemer  and  King.  "  Be  strong  ; " 
go  out  to  this  warfare  with  full  confidence  in  divine 
aid ;  be  strong  in  the  Lord  and  in  the  power  of  his 
might ;  be  stout-hearted  and  valiant,  and  by  this  be 
successful  and  victorious. 

The  topic  seems  peculiarly  suitable  to  young  Chris- 
tians ;  and  for  their  sakes  I  would  deduce  from  these 
words  the  value  of  an  earnest,  manly  and  courageous 

CHRISTIANITY. 

As  in  Christ  Jesus  there  is  neither  male  nor  female, 
the  subject  belongs  not  only  to  Christian  men  but  to 
Christian  women ;  yet  as  I  appear  before  a  society  of 
young  men,  and  as  in  all  aggressive  movements  it  is 
they  who  must  take  the  lead,  the  remarks  which  follow 
shall  be  directed  towards  the  consideration  of  this  vigor- 
ous rehgion  as  existing  in  young  men.  Reasons  will 
appear  in  the  sequel,  why  we  may  lawfully  single  out 
such  a  portion  of  the  race  as  that  which,  speaking  in 
general  terms,  is  destined  to  survive ;  and  why  we  are 
justified  in  still  further  narrowing  the  field,  by  address- 
ing our  admonitions  primarily  to  those  who  profess  the 
faith  of  Christ,  as  the  class  contemplated  by  the  text, 
and  as  that  which  must  be  the  source  of  influence  to 
its  coevals. 

If  we  might  have  all  wishes  in  one,  we  could  wish 
nothing  better,  nothing  greater,  than  that  the  youth  now 


324  THE  YOUNG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN. 

growing  up  should  be  cast  into  the  right  mould.  A 
present  generation,  duly  trained  in  boyhood  and  adoles- 
cence, will  make  a  coming  generation  of  men,  (I  wish 
our  otherwise  rich  English  had  two  words,  as  most 
other  languages  have,  to  express  the  thought,)  of  men, 
who  shall  stand  in  the  battle.  Of  poor  sauntering 
triflers,  in  human  shape  and  men's  apparel,  we  have 
enough ;  of  literary  Sybarites,  bred  on  stories,  fugitive 
poetry  and  monthly  magazines;  of  minute  scholars, 
glorying  in  the  niceties  of  metre  and  accent,  coUege 
honours,  and  other  tongues ;  of  dressed  creatures  that 
sweeten  soirees  and  playhouses  with  their  odours ;  of 
things  that  flutter  and  die  in  the  hght  of  fashion,  as 
moths  about  a  lamp ;  of  religious  professors  that  almost 
ask  leave  to  serve  Christ  of  the  sons  of  Belial  who  sur- 
round them  ;  more  than  enough  have  we  of  such  young 
Americans,  aping  every  effete  custom  and  appropriating 
every  fungous  abuse  of  the  old  countries,  and  spoiled 
tenfold  worse  by  every  voyage  and  travel  abroad,  so 
that  they  blush  at  the  marks  of  an  American  as  much 
as  their  fathers  would  have  gloried  in  the  same ;  more 
than  enough  of  young  men  whose  everlasting  discourse 
is  of  the  last  amusement  or  the  last  scandal.  But  of 
MEN,  spirits  in  earnest,  souls  that  have  an  aim,  bent  to- 
wards some  object,  and  that  a  great  one ;  bearing  and 
doing,  training  themselves  by  toil,  by  temperance,  by 
self-denial,  by  prayer,  for  the  benefit  of  the  greatest 
number,  it  must  be  confessed  with  lamentation  that  we 
have  but  few.     And  if,  as  we  suppose,  the  times  which 


THE  YOUNG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN.  325 

are  coming  on  the  eartli  will  demand  sucli  men,  strong 
to  do  and  strong  to  suffer,  our  only  mode  of  providing 
them  is  to  deal  with  the  young,  and  to  pour  the  plastic 
masses  into  the  shaping  mould. 

Our  Saviour  long  smce  taught  us  that  the  children 
of  this  world  are  wiser  in  their  generation  than  the 
children  of  light.  Worldly  governments,  cabinets  and 
and  war-bureaus  are  wiser  and  more  provident  than 
the  church.  The  great  contemporary  drama  in  the 
Crimea  teaches  us  a  hundred  mighty  lessons ;  and  I 
mar\^el,  that  at  such  a  time  there  should  be  people  empty 
and  heartless  enough  to  crave,  in  vulgar  playhouses,  the 
excitement  or  diversion  of  stale  mimicry,  mouthed  by 
despicable  players  whom  they  would  refuse  admittance 
at  their  doors,  or  the  provocative  displays  of  semi-nude 
dances,  at  which  a  Roman  matron  would  have  blushed 
'  celestial  rosy  red;'  at  such  a  time,  I  say,  when  great 
tragic  actions  of.  real  hfe  and  real  death  are  held  forth 
to  view  in  that  more  than  Trojan  peril  and  endurance 
imder  the  walls  of  Sebastopol.  Go  thither,  ye  poor 
effeminate  drawing-room  Christians,  ye  carpet-knights 
of  a  chivalry  whose  sword  is  lath  and  whose  shield  is 
pasteboard ;  go  and  learn  what  men  can  do  and  dare, 
when  they  are  warmed  by  a  grand  motive.  Behold 
them  bleeding  in  the  charge,  behold  them,  harder  yet, 
languishing  to  death  in  the  wet  and  fatal  trenches.  On 
either  side,  see  the  fruits  of  true  manly  valour.  What 
assault  will  they  not  venture,  what  privation  will  they 
not  endure  ?     "  Now  they  do  it  to  obtain  a  corruptible 


326  THE  YOUNG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN. 

crown,  but  we  an  incorruptible."  Our  own  American 
youth,  we  know,  would  do  the  like  in  any  cause  which 
interested  them,  that  is,  in  any  earthly  cause.  In  a 
single  hom%  if  our  city  were  invaded,  thousands  of  such 
as  hear  me  would  rally  to  any  call  of  the  country  ;  and 
however  unprepared  by  training,  abstinence,  and  dis- 
cipline, would  do  their  best  and  die  in  doing  it.  But 
stm  the  inquiry  returns,  why  these  and  similar  displays 
of  manly  virtue  and  self-sacrifice  are  so  much  limited 
to  earthly  hazards  and  conflicts?  Why  should  the 
children  of  this  world  still  put  to  shame  the  children  of 
light  ?  Why  do  we  seldom  behold  a  phalanx  of  trained 
Christians  going  forth,  stately  and  irresistible,  to  the 
help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty  ?  Are  there  no 
great  interests  at  stake  ?  Have  we  nothing  as  potent 
to  stir  the  blood  as  the  taking  of  a  redoubt  or  the 
silencing  of  a  battery?  Can  the  great  passions  be 
moved  only  by  reven*ge,  bloodshed,  crime  ?  Ah,  no, 
my  hearers.  History  can  show,  even  though  experience 
should  be  dumb;  history  can  show  that  there  have 
been  days  when  the  Christian  host  was  animated  by  a 
fire  such  as  never  had  its  equal  in  conquering  armies. 
The  principles  of  the  faith  have  a  stimulating  and  em- 
boldening power,  which,  as  you  well  know,  was  in  past 
ages  irresistible  in  the  view  of  Gentile  and  afterwards 
of  Antichristian  foes.  Just  recall,  for  a  moment,  the 
earliest  progress  of  Christianity,  and  consider  what  sort 
of  men  were  engaged  in  that  army.  Only  close  stu- 
dents of  church  history  do  justice  to  the  rapidity  of  this 


THE  YOUXG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN.  327 

conquest.  From  Jerusalem,  Antioch,  Corinth,  Alexan- 
dria, and  Rome,  as  bases  of  operation,  the  hosts  went 
forth  almost  simultaneously  to  the  frontiers  of  the  known 
world.  The  celerity  of  Alexander's  famous  marches  was 
outstripped  by  Apostles  of  whom  no  record  exists,  who 
carried  the  cross  into  realms  of  whose  myriad  converts 
no  registers  remain.  There  is  this  in  which  the  sacra- 
mental host  differs  from  other  armies;  every  soldier 
feels  the  genuine  impulse.  The  Russian,  French,  or 
British  private,  though  drilled  to  a  mechanical  exactness 
of  evolution  and  practice,  and  hardened  to  a  bulldog 
ferocity,  may  partake  little  individually  of  those  patriotic, 
ambitious  or  dutiful  sentiments  which  glow  in  the  soul 
of  great  leaders.  But  in  the  church  miUtant  every 
missionary  and  every  confessor  and  every  martyr  was 
individually  able  to  give  a  reason  of  the  hope  that  was 
in  him ;  and  when  the  Greek  slave  or  the  Roman  boy 
or  the  Hebrew  maid  was  brought  before  proconsuls  and 
princes,  they  were  as  clear  in  their  testimony  of  what 
they  suffered  for,  even  if  not  so  able  to  argue  on  it,  as 
a  Paul  or  an  ApoHos.  It  will  never  do  to  ascribe  the 
unmanly  supineness  and  apathy  of  many  Christian 
young  men  of  our  times,  to  any  want  of  animating  sen- 
timent in  Christianity. 

If  the  Reformation  did  no  more,  it  taught  us,  that 
among  the  cinders  of  that  old  altar  there  lay  coals  of 
fire  which  needed  but  the  stirring  and  the  heavenly 
breath,  to  make  them  flame  up  to  heaven.  All  the 
stories  of  romance  wither  and  seem  insipid  when  com- 


328  THE  YOUNG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN. 

pared  with  Reformation  history.  You  cannot  read  an 
hour  about  Luther,  Calvin,  Zwingle,  Melancthon,  Knox, 
or  Melvill,  without  feehng  that  you  are  communing 
with  men.  They  had  something  to  Hve  for.  They  had 
some  principles  to  die  for.  There  were  doctrines  at 
stake.  It  is  a  symptom  of  the  wretched,  flaccid,  pulse- 
less condition  of  sundry  in  our  day,  that  they  never 
speak  of  theology,  of  catechisms,  of  doctrinal  sermons, 
but  with  a  sneer.  The  rehgion  which  they  would  hke, 
if  indeed  they  have  thought  enough  to  know  their  own 
mind,  would  be  aU  sentimentality  and  all  softness. 
Their  weakened  mental  organs  reject  the  strong  meat. 
Know  ye,  O  my  beloved  young  friends,  that  manly 
bone,  sinew  and  muscle,  do  not  form  themselves  on  the 
emollient  regimen  of  a  Christianity  without  doctrine. 
The  men  who  of  old  went  to  the  stake,  went  for  doc- 
trines ;. these  doctrines  they  had  learnt  in  the  Scriptures, 
elaborated  in  meditation,  methodized  in  system,  preached 
to  hstening  thousands,  digested  in  the  succinct  formu- 
las of  definition,  and  left  for  us,  their  children,  in 
those  permanent  crystals  of  the  Reformed  Catechisms, 
which  are  scoffed  at  by  amiable  wits  and  religious  petit 
maitres.  Men,  mew;  who  can  stand  fast  in  the  faith, 
who  can  stand  alone,  who  have  vertebral  columns,  who 
can  bear,  who  can  forbear,  who  can  advance,  who  on 
due  summons  can  strike,  men  armed  with  the  armour 
of  righteousness  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left, 
that  is,  with  sword  and  shield,  are  bred  in  great  study 
of  God's  Word,  and  great  famiharity  with  those  high 


THE  YOUNG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN.  329 

evangelic  truths  whicli  are  the  motive  powers  of  the 
spiritual  universe.  And  this  partly  answers  the  ques- 
tion we  have  raised  about  the  paucity  of  Christian 
soldiers,  who  seem  to  be  in  earnest,  as  earthly  soldiers 
are  in  earnest.  So  that  the  way  is  prepared  for  stating 
two  great  means  of  promoting  Christian  courage  and 
strength. 

I.  The  source  of  manly  earnestness  is  truth  be- 
lieved. It  is  so  in  trade,  agriculture,  mechanics,  and 
warfare ;  why  should  it  be  less  so  in  rehgion  ?  The  cry- 
ing sin  of  our  young  men  in  the  church  is  voluntary 
ignorance  ;  ignorance  of  theological  truth  in  its  definite 
expression  and  just  connexion.  How  can  they  hope 
the  fire  to  bum,  when  they  will  not  take  the  time  or 
trouble  to  lay  on  fuel  ?  The  most  intense  heat,  and 
consequently  the  most  powerful  action,  proceed  from 
deep  inward  conviction  of  religious  truth,  derived  from 
laborious  study  of  the  Scripture. 

I  foresee  your  reply :  you  have  no  time.  The  age 
is  so  active,  city  engagements  are  so  numerous,  in  a 
word,  you  are  so  busy,  that  you  cannot  improve  your 
minds.  Now,  if  this  were  a  sound  answer,  we  might 
dismiss  you  at  once  as  hopeless,  and  say,  we  expect 
from  you  nothing  great,  nothing  steadfast,  since  all  that 
is  elevated  and  memorable  results  from  improvement  of 
the  mind.  But  this  is  altogether  an  evasion.  No  man 
who  is  not  a  slave  is  too  busy  'to  make  himself  a 
thorough  religious  scholar,  that  is,  to  lay  up  within  him 
the  formative  elements  of  manly  power.     Your  engage- 


330  THE  YOUNG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN. 

ments,  we  will  suppose,  are  very  great ;  but  are  you 
more  busy  tban  David,  who  had  a  kingdom  on  his 
hands,  which  he  successfully  guided  in  war  and  peace, 
and  yet  found  time  to  meditate  on  Scripture,  and  con- 
tribute some  noble  parts  towards  its  completion  ?  Are 
you  more  busy  than  Paul,  a  traveller  by  land  and  sea, 
a  preacher,  author  and  apostle,  whose  entire  life  was  a 
series  of  lofty  deeds  and  heroic  sufferings;  and  who 
yet  was  deeply  conversant  with  the  Bible?  Are  you 
more  busy  than  Martin  Luther,  who  preached  almost 
daily,  whose  correspondence  equalled  that  of  a  minis- 
ter of  state,  and  whose  pubhshed  books  almost  make  a 
library  of  themselves ;  yet  who  daily  and  profoundly 
pondered  on  the  Word  of  Inspiration?  Nay,  there 
have  been  men  in  every  calling  and  profession,  including 
your  own,  who  amidst  full  and  prosperous  worldly  em- 
ployment, have  redeemed  hours  to  work  the  mine  of 
Holy  Learning.  Bacon,  Grotius,  Sir  Isaac  Newton, 
and  Chief  Justice  Hale,  may  show  what  philosophers 
and  statesmen  have  been  able  to  bestow  on  the  sacred 
records.  The  truth,  drawn  out  of  the  Scriptures  and 
made  the  matter  of  Uvely  faith,  is  that  which  wakes  up 
and  fortifies  the  character.  And  the  cause  of  prevail- 
ing frivolity,  vacillation  and  inefficiency,  among  certain 
well-disposed  young  persons,  is,  that  there  is  nothing 
which  they  can  be  said  to  beheve  with  all  the  heart. 
We  may  smile  at  the  Commonwealth-man  and  the 
Scots  Covenanter,  for  the  sourness  of  their  visages ;  but 
those  stern  dark  faces  showed  hke  lanterns  from  the 


THE  TOXJKG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN.  33]^ 

torch  of  conviction  within ;  and  mighty  faith  gave  them 
earnestness  of  heart  and  strength  of  arm.  One  secret 
of  their  fortitude  and  energy  and  daring  is  fomid  in 
the  pocket  Bible  which  each  of  them  carried  to  the 
field,  which  he  rehgiously  read  in  camp,  and  which  was 
often  found  next  the  heart  when  his  dead  body  was 
carried  from  the  field.  The  Book  of  God,  when  it  is 
the  one  book,  makes  strong  characters.  Read  it,  study 
it,  ponder  over  it ;  be  not  content,  my  young  friends,  to 
go  over  so  much  daily  as  a  task,  or  to  snatch  a  passage 
in  the  hurry  of  an  odd  moment ;  but  lay  yourself  out  to 
accomphsh  a  thorough  investigation  of  its  contents,  to 
acquaint  yourself  with  its  order,  structure  and  har- 
mony, to  grapple  with  its  difiiculties,  to  systematize  its 
truths,  and  to  enrich  your  memory  with  its  golden  sen- 
tences. This  is  possible,  seeing  it  is  but  one  volume. 
Thousands  have  done  so,  and  amidst  difficulties  as  nu- 
merous and  pressing  as  yours.  Hundreds  of  Scottish 
peasants  and  day-labourers  are  at  this  very  moment  well 
instructed  scribes  unto  the  kingdom  of  God.  And  it 
vnR  be  a  happy  day  for  our  American  churches,  when 
young  persons  of  both  sexes  shall  place  the  study  of 
the  Bible  at  the  very  head  of  all  their  intellectual  pur- 
suits. Then  shall  we  see  a  race,  able  as  well  as  wiUing 
to  cope  with  the  wily  Jesuit  and  confound  the  boasting 
Atheist.  Then  shall  that  life  and  buoyant  activity, 
which  the  vital  current  of  holy  truth  keeps  up,  manifest 
themselves  in  the  very  portion  of  society  where  improve- 
ment is  most  hopeful. 


332  THE  YOUNG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN. 

II.  If  we  look  again  for  some  solution  of  our  mor- 
tifying problem,  we  shall  find  another  cause  of  the 
tameness,  irresolution  and  flight  of  our  common  re- 
Hgious  combatants,  in  the  want  of  devotional  habits. 
True  manly  strength  in  religion  is  nurtured  at  the 
mercy-seat  and  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross.  The  appear- 
ance of  zeal  may  be  put  on  for  a  little  while,  but  per- 
manent vigour  must  have  a  perennial  source ;  and  the 
spring-head  must  be  within.  No  external  activity, 
though  pushed  to  the  utmost,  can  make  up  for  the 
want  of  closet  devotion.  This  is  just  the  point,  where 
the  electric  attachment  with  heaven  is  effected.  Here 
the  fire  comes  down  from  above.  If  we  would  learn 
how  Ehjah,  Daniel,  Paul,  Augustine,  Luther,  White- 
field,  Martyn,  Payson,  and  Judson,  came  to  quit  them- 
selves like  men,  we  must  accompany  them  to  their 
wrestUng  prayers.  Nor  are  ministers  of  the  Gospel 
alone  to  be  imitated ;  scholars,  soldiers,  merchants,  have 
learnt  this  secret  of  strength,  and  have  thus  found  a 
treasury  of  courage,  hope,  and  success,  which  the  world 
never  suspected.  My  beloved  young  brethren,  the 
world  has  already  half-destroyed  us,  when  we  are  too 
busy  to  pray.  Better  forego  food  or  rest,  especially 
better  forego  any  amount  of  profit,  than  learn  to  Hve 
without  communion  with  God  in  devotion.  Let  the 
Mohammedan  muezzin,  from  his  tower  beside  the 
mosque,  penetrate  our  conscience,  when  he  cries  aloud, 
at  daybreak,  through  all  the  lands  of  Islam,  JPrayer  is 
better  than  sleep  !  Frayer  is  better  than  sleep  I 


THE  YOUNG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN.  33^ 

But  the  great  matter  to  be  pressed  is  unconnected 
with  prescribed  times  or  forms ;  and  the  great  question 
to  be  asked  is,  Do  I  habitually  maintain  a  confidential 
intercourse  with  my  Lord  and  Redeemer  in  acts  of 
heavenly  communion  ?  If  yea,  then  the  channel  of 
strengthening  influences  being  open,  there  will  infallibly 
be  boldness  and  sufficiency  for  the  conflict  of  life.  If 
nay,  weakness,  inconsistency,  and  defeat  must  ensue. 

The  reason  why  the  two  things  just  mentioned  pro- 
mote manly  strength  in  the  Christian  character,  is  that 
by  the  word  of  God  and  prayer,  more  than  by  all  other 
ordinary  means,  we  maintain  conscious  union  with  God, 
the  fountain  of  all  power.  Here  we  perceive  the  con- 
nexion between  an  inward  spiritual  piety  and  an  out- 
ward aggression  and  triumph.  No  longer  need  we  dis- 
sever the  contemplative  and  the  active,  in  life ;  one  is 
the  source  of  the  other.  When  some  mighty  cataract 
bursts  over  its  wall  of  mountain-rock,  we  are  not  to  for- 
get that  the  flood  has  been  gathering  force  and  volume 
in  a  long  preceding  flow.  So  also  the  visible  activity  of 
an  enterprising  Christian  is  to  be  traced  to  months  and 
years  of  secret  converse  with  God. 

The  more  the  balance  is  disturbed  by  worldly  ex- 
citement and  external  bustle  in  the  daily  calling,  the 
more  there  is  need  of  this  preponderating  weight  of 
home-rehgion  and  closet-quietude,  to  regulate  the  other- 
wise jarring  motions,  like  the  fly-wheel  or  the  governor 
in  an  engine.  The  recluse  student  and  the  seden- 
tary woman  require  this  peculiar  disciphne  of  silence 


334  THE  YOUNG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN. 

and  shade  far  less  than  the  man  of  business,  who  from 
morning  till  night  scarcely  redeems  a  moment  for  stated 
reflection.  He  must,  by  stern  resolution  and  self-de- 
nial, gain  some  hour  to  hear  God  speak,  and  to  speak 
to  God,  or  he  will  inevitably  shrink  and  wither  down 
mto  the  every-day  worldly  professor ;  who  is  bold  at  a 
bargain  and  cowardly  in  faith;  earnest  on  week-days  and 
half  asleep  on  the  Sabbath;  indefatigable  in  trade-labours 
an3  unheard-of  in  operations  for  Christ's  kingdom  or  his 
poor ;  hot  upon  'Change  and  ice-cold  in  Church. 

But  the  subject  is  too  awful  for  satire. .  We  need, 
in  degrees  beyond  all  power  of  expression  we  need,  men 
Tvdth  blood  in  their  hearts,  who  shall  be  as  courageous, 
as  unflinching,  as  diligent,  and  as  hopeful  in  the  concerns 
of  God,  as  hundreds  are  daily  seen  to  be  in  the  con- 
cerns of  the  world.  We  need  not  pause  to  show  how 
immediate  would  be  the  effect  on  Christians  and  on 
society,  if  a  general  outburst  of  such  zeal  and  effort 
should  be  witnessed  in  our  day.  And  therefore  we 
may  at  once  proceed  to  the  important  truth,  that  the 
only  hope  of  such  an  event  must  be  founded  on  the  in- 
crease of  manly  piety  in  the  young.  Unless  those  who 
are  now  ductile  can  take  the  image  and  superscription 
of  such  an  earnestness,  the  next  generation  wiU  be  no 
stronger  or  nobler  than  the  present.  Mournful  as  the 
declaration  is,  it  is  not  to  be  disguised,  that  we  who,  in 
our  march,  have  turned  the  crest  of  life,  and  whose 
journey  is  westward  and  down  the  hill,  have  already 
taken  our  habit  and  character.     We  may  regret  the 


THE  YOUXG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN.  335 

past,  but  changes  for  the  better,  though  possible 
through  grace,  are  not  likely  to  be  numerous  or  remark- 
able. And  then,  our  career  is  chiefly  run,  and  all  that 
remains  must  take  much  of  its  colour  from  the  good  or 
evil  of  our  better  days.  Strength  of  manly  Christianity 
for  the  time  that  is  coming  must  have  its  foundations 
laid  in  the  youth  of  the  present  time.  In  this  view  of 
the  subject,  it  is  pleasant  to  consider  that  we  of  the 
more  aged  party  are  the  minority,  and  our  number  is 
lessening  very  rapidly ;  while  you,  young  men,  are  nu- 
merous, a  reinforcement  fresh  and  vigorous,  ready  to 
step  into  our  places.  May  God  grant  you  grace  to 
wage  this  warfare  more  valiantly  and  successfully  than 
we  have  done  !  Our  best  hopes  for  the  Church  of  the 
future,  under  God,  is  in  what  we  descry  of  promise  in 
young  Christians.  Unless  we  depend  on  miracle  and 
supernatural  intervention,  the  progress  of  rehgion  for 
the  next  twenty  or  thirty  years  wiU  be  according  to  the 
knowledge,  piety  and  ardour  of  the  youthful  levies  into 
our  grand  army.  And  this  ought  to  be  a  powerful  in- 
ducement to  every  ingenuous  and  public-spirited  young 
man,  whatever  may  be  his  vocation,  to  aim  at  a  higher 
measure  of  devotion  and  love,  than  he  has  been  accus- 
tomed to  see  in  his  companions. 

Consider  what  kind  of  Christian  character  and  con- 
duct must  be  demanded  by  the  period  about  to  dawn. 
Deliberately  ask  yourselves,  is  not  manly  earnestness  in 
Christ's  cause  especially  required  for  the  times  which 
are  coming  upon  the  earth  ?     "  Watch  ye,"  says  the 


336  THE  YOUNG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN. 

text.  It  is  a  word  of  command,  as  when  a  guard  is 
turned  out ;  the  mihtary  order  to  keep  awake,  because 
dangers  are  imminent  and  foes  are  expected.  Watch 
TE.  It  calls  the  young  men  of  America  to  mount  the 
walls  and  reconnoitre  the  field.  And  no  one  who  has 
at  all  kept  abreast  of  the  signs  of  the  times  can  give  a 
glance  toward  the  future,  without  starting  up  aroused 
and  earnest  at  the  probabihties  of  trying  times  and 
new  emergencies,  which  will  call  for  stout  hearts  and 
strong  hands.  The  combination  of  omens  during  a  few 
years  naturally  leads  reflective  patriots  and  Christians 
to  search  afresh  into  the  prophetic  oracles ;  and  both 
Providence  and  the  Word  teach  us  to  await  a  period  in 
which  a  robust  Christianity  shall  have  all  its  nerve 
brought  to  the  test.  Wo  to  the  young  man  who  goes 
up  to  this  battle  with  weak  and  sickly  habit,  with  slen- 
der faith  and  with  waning  love !  On  what  side  can  we 
look,  without  recognising  the  tokens  of  approaching 
commotion  ?  We  thought,  in  our  simplicity,  that  wars 
were  almost  obsolete ;  but  the  gathering  tread  of  the  ten 
thousands  in  the  Tauric  peninsula,  and  the  dead  by  dis- 
ease and  sword,  correct  our  mistake.  The  tides  of  our 
own  American  politics  no  longer  run  smooth  ;  and  the 
controversies  are  as  novel  as  they  are  momentous,  so 
that  we  know  not  even  at  home  what  a  day  may  bring 
forth.  Elements  stir  in  our  bosom  which  may  be  thrown 
out  with  volcanic  eruption  on  any  one  of  several  ques- 
tions, domestic  and  foreign.  Then  we  are  not  so  far 
from  the  old  hemisphere  as  once  we  were.     Directly  or 


THE  YOUNG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN.  337 

indirectly,  the  present  European,  or  more  truly  Eastern 
war,  may,  as  a  remote  consequence,  involve  our  own 
national  peace.  Nay,  a  revolution  in  remote  Asia  may 
prove  very  soon  to  be  not  merely  between  Chinese  and 
Mantchou,  or  between  autocracy  and  revolt,  but  be- 
tween error  and  truth,  between  BeUal  and  Christ,  be- 
tween persecuting  outlawry  of  missions  and  the  unex- 
ampled diffusion  of  the  Gospel  in  that  vast  empire.  An 
earnest  mind  will  also  pray  for  triple  strength  and  triple 
manhood,  in  considering  the  fortunes  of  Rome,  and 
the  probable  contest  between  America  and  the  Pope. 
Wars  and  rumours  of  wars  will  possibly  be  accompanied 
or  followed,  in  some  lands,  by  infidel  and  popish  perse- 
cutions ;  and  so  the  sons  of  those  present  will  need  to 
be  strong  in  the  Lord  and  in  the  power  of  his  might. 
Different  as  our  interpretations  of  prophecy  and  our 
prognostications  may  be,  there  is,  I  suppose,  no  one 
among  us,  who  looks  for  a  quiet  time,  halcyon  days,  an 
Augustan  age  of  art  and  letters  and  gentle  luxury,  for 
our  immediate  descendants.  No  prophet  am  I ;  but 
when  I  look  intently  on  my  sons,  and  on  you  my  dear 
young  parishioners,  I  seem  to  myself  Hke  one  who  hears 
and  sees  tokens  of  a  sifting,  and  a  shaking,  and  a  suf- 
fering dispensation.  "  I  am  pained,"  cried  Jeremiah  to 
an  incredulous  people ;  "  I  am  pained  at  my  very  heart : 
my  heart  maketh  a  noise  in  me ;  I  cannot  hold  my 
peace,  because  thou  hast  heard,  0  my  soul,  the  sound 
of  the  trumpet,  the  alarm  of  war ! "  And  we  also,  in 
the  midst  of  subterranean  concussions  and  trumpet 
22 


338  THE  YOUNG  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN.       . 

calls,  think  of  possible  convulsions  and  trials  of  fortitude, 
and  desire  for  those  who  come  after  us  a  Christianity 
in  earnest. 

Bejvien,  therefore,  in  knowledge,  in  faith,  in  self-de- 
nial, in  endurance,  in  effort,  in  diligence,  in  perseverance, 
in  love.  Or  to  comprehend  it  in  a  word,  "  Be  ye  holy." 
That  which  contributes  to  your  inward  piety  will  secure 
your  strength.  As  has  been  already  said,  no  increase 
of  outward  labour,  no  pragmatical  hurrying  from  toil 
to  toil,  no  forwardness  of  mere  act,  no  almsgiving  or 
other  beneficence,  will  certainly  make  you  mighty  men 
of  God.  All  these  may  exist  where  grace  is  low  or  even 
absent.  But  devoted  attention  to  the  Word  and  prayer 
will  do  it ;  faith  and  vigilance  and  love  will  do  it ; 
communion  with  a  dying  Saviour  will  do  it ;  the  "  unc- 
tion from  the  Holy  One''  will  do  it.  Let  me  vehe- 
mently exhort  you  to  seek  a  Christian  experience 
higher,  broader  and  deeper  than  we,  your  predecessors 
and  teachers,  have  exhibited ;  or  than  you  observe  in 
the  religious  world  around  you.  Eor  if  Christ  intends 
great  blessings  for  the  next  age,  it  is  hkely  that  he  will 
pour  a  three-fold  anointing  on  the  young  men  of  this. 
Happy  shall  be  the  Evangelist  of  that  period,  a  period 
thus  resembling  the  primitive  and  apostolical  days,  who 
shall  feel  free  to  say ;  "  I  write  unto  you,  young  men, 
because  ye  have  overcome  the  wicked  one ;  I  have  writ- 
ten unto  you,  young  men,  because  ye  are  strong,  and  the 
Word  of  God  abideth  in  you,  and  ye  have  overcoQie 
the  wicked  one."   1  John  ii.  13,  14. 


XV. 


DAILY    SERVICE    OF    CHRIST. 


A  CHARITY  SllRMON. 


DAILY  SERVICE  OP  CHRIST  * 


Matt,  xxv,  37. 


"Then  shall  the  righteous. answer  him,  saying,  Lord,  when  saw  we 
thee  an  hungered,  and  fed  thee  ?  or  thirsty,  and  gave  thee  drink  ? 
When  saw  we  thee  a  stranger,  and  took  thee  in  ?  or  naked,  and 
clothed  thee  ?  Or  when  saw  we  thee  sick,  or  in  prison,  and  came 
unto  thee?"  ' 

Out  of  this  divine  picture  of  the  groups  around  the 
last  Tribunal,  let  us  take  a  single  point,  detaching  it 
from  the  rest.  The  modesty,  humility,  and  self-forget- 
folness  of  the  righteous,  shall  introduce  what  we  have 
to  say  on  a  matter  of  great  importance.  The  good 
deeds  of  their  hfe  they  scarcely  recognise  as  having 
been  such.  They  seem  to  forget  that  which  God  re- 
members, even  their  works  of  mercy.  Certainly  these 
blessed  of  the  Father,  brethren  of  the  Son,  and  heirs  of 
the  Kingdom,  do  not  belong  to  the  class  who  trumpet 

*  New  York,  June  13, 1858. 


342  ^-^^^  SERVICE  OF  CHRIST. 

their  alms  and  rear  monuments  to  their  own  goodness. 
Having  done  good  by  stealth,  they  blush  to  find  it 
fame.  Christ's  applauses  surprise  them,  and  at  an  hour 
when  the  faces  of  millions  on  the  left  are  gathering  black- 
ness, their  cheeks  are  suffused  with  ingenuous  blushing. 
They  stand  amazed  that  the  Son  of  Man,  now  come  in 
his  glory  with  all  the  holy  angels,  should  so  overwhelm 
their  trifling  services  with  a  glorious  reward.  Nay, 
they  can  hardly  recollect  any  service  at  all.  The  minis- 
tries were  so  trifling,  and  were  bestowed  on  objects  so  in- 
considerable, often  with  such  mixture  of  bad  motives, 
and  such  deficiency  of  good,  that  it  amazes  them  to 
find  every  transient  item  legible  in  the  book  of  the 
Judge,  now  seated  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory.  Such 
is  the  representation  given  by  our  Lord  himself,  of  the 
feeUngs  with -which  a  righteous  man  will  receive  the 
gracious  award. 

Now,  in  parabohc  sayings  of  this  kind,  no  one  will 
expect  exactness  of  recital,  as  to  the  very  words  uttered 
before  the  throne.  It  is  enough  that  we  catch  the  great 
lessons  breathed  by  the  spirit  of  the  passage.  Every 
true  servant  saved  by  grace,  wiU  discover  "  at  that  day," 
how  momentous  have  been  the  consequences  of  acts  too 
small  to  be  remembered.  He  will  see,  that  a  righteous 
man  may  have  been  continually  putting  forth  uncon- 
scious influence;  may  have  been  ministering  to  his 
Master,  when  his  mind  was  busied  chiefly  about  his 
brethren ;  and  that,  while  he  sought  the  gratification  of 
a  benevolent  heart,  he  may  have  rendered  a  service 


DAILY  SERVICE  OF  CHRIST.  343 

honourable  and  grateful  to  his  Lord.  Among  the  nu- 
merous teachings,  therefore,  of  this  magnificent  vision, 
one  may  suffice  for  the  present  occasion.     It  is  this : 

No  ONE  CAN  ESTIMATE  THE  AMOUNT  OF  SERVICE  REN- 
DERED TO  Christ  in  apparently  little  things. 

To  trace  this  current  of  good  deeds  to  its  source,  is 
not  difficult.  Wherever  there  is  regeneration,  there  is 
love  to  Christ.  Wherever  love  to  Christ  exists,  it  pres- 
ently shows  its  fruits,  in  love  to  the  brethren.  The 
connexion  is  pubhcly  owned  by  Him,  who,  pointing  to 
the  right,  says,  "  These,  my  brethren."  Benevolence, 
thus  dnected,  leads  to  beneficence.  True  Christians  do 
*'not  love  in  word,  neither  in  tongue,  but  in  deed  and 
in  truth."  "  Love  unfeigned  "  is  perpetually  passing 
into  act,  with  regard  to  every  member  of  Christ  who 
can  be  reached.  The  Lord  Jesus  vouchsafes  to  receive 
every  such  benefit  rendered  to  any  one  of  his  people  as 
conferred  upon  himself.  And  lest  there  should  be  a 
misgiving  on  this  point,  as  if  our  Lord  took  account 
only  of  favours  bestowed  on  distinguished  disciples,  he 
expressly  instances  the  most  inconsiderable.  "  And  the 
King  (the  introduction  of  which  title  just  here,  merits 
our  particular  notice)  shall  answer  and  say  unto  them. 
Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it 
unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  iny  brethren,  ye  have 
done  it  unto  me."  No  act  of  kindness,  even  the  small- 
est, is  unobserved  or  disregarded  by  our  Ejng.  He 
says  in  his  heart  of  every  such  act :  "  It  is  done  to  me." 
Yet  the  passage  before  'us  shows,  that  he  who  puts 


344  DAILY  SERVICE  OF  CHRIST. 

forth  this  act  of  bounty  or  mercy  may  entirely  lose 
sight  of  its  terminating  on  any  object  greater  than  the 
sufferer  whom  he  relieves ;  indeed,  even  at  the  moment 
of  rehef,  he  may  not  explicitly  own  the  reference  of  the 
act  to  Christ.  One  may  therefore  really  minister  to  his 
Redeemer,  when  his  soul  is  chiefly  taken  up  with  some 
Lazarus  at  the  gate,  or  some  wounded  wretch  left  by 
robbers  on  the  road  to  Jericho.  The  Master,  never- 
theless, accounts  the  deed  as  done  to  himself. 

That  we  are  to  do  all  things  "  to  the  glory  of  God," 
and  "  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  is  fixed  in  the 
minds  of  all  believers,  by  two  remarkable  maxims.  But 
conscientious  inquirers  sometimes  doubt  whether  any 
acts  can  be  justly  said  to  have  this  quality  and  inten- 
tion, unless  there  be  a  distinct  view  of  the  Lord,  as  the 
object  to  whom  the  service  is  rendered.  Doubtless,  a 
view  thus  distinct  is  good,  and  much  to  be  desired, 
since  we  cannot  too  much  place  our  blessed  Master  be- 
fore the  mind,  as  the  end  of  all  our  actions.  At  the 
same  time,  the  passage  which  we  are  considering  shows 
that,  provided  we  be  in  a  state  of  grace,  we  may  be 
feeding,  refreshing,  lodging  and  visiting  the  Son  of 
God,  when,  to  our  own  apprehension,  we  are  only  com- 
forting the  hungry,  thirsty,  homeless,,  or  imprisoned 
brother-man.  And  this  is  sustaining,  in  no  common 
degree,  to  those  who  consider  the  limitations  of  human 
thought,  and  the  small  scope  of  many  sincere  minds, 
which  cannot  look  far  beyond  what  is  nearest  to  them, 
especially  when  they  add  the  cheering  truth,  that  of 


DAILY  SERVICE  OF  CHRIST.  345 

such  acts,  which  Jesus  will  thus  own,  there  are  thou- 
sands in  the  calendar  of  any  one  Christian  year.  In- 
deed, in  this  way,  a  true  follower  of  Christ  fills  up  his 
life.  The  new  nature  is  continually  working  its  way 
outwards,  according  to  the  various  objects  which  invite 
its  flow ;  and  benevolence,  inspired  of  God,  seeks  new 
ways  of  communicating  happiness,  even  in  the  smallest 
particulars.  Nor  are  these  effluences  of  the  sanctified 
nature,  in  the  way  of  kindly  acts,  the  less  Christian, 
even  if  at  the  moment  of  performance  the  happy  spirit 
does  not  distinctly  think  of  its  being  done  to  Christ 
himself.  The  inward  spring  is  perpetually  running, 
marking  its  track  by  the  green  margin  which  it  irrigates. 
A  kind,  merciful,  unselfish  heart  is  always  looking 
around  for  some  one  to  be  the  object  of  its  care ;  and 
love  is  the  same  in  its  kind,  when  it  gives  a  kingdom, 
and  when  it  gives  a  flower.  The  clean  raiment,  gently 
laid  beside  the  pauper's  bed  by  the  modest  hand  of  a 
child,  is  as  honourable  in  God's  sight  as  the  thousands 
builded  into  marble.  This  internal  principle  of  good- 
will, in  a  soul  created  anew  after  the  image  of  the  Di- 
vine beneficence,  acts  itself  out  to  aU  the  human  species 
of  whatsoever  religion,  language,  condition,  creed,  or 
colour ;  and  even  makes  itself  known  towards  the  lower 
animals,  and  all  sentient  beings.  "  A  righteous  man 
regardeth  the  life  of  his  beast ;  but  the  tender  mercies 
of  the  wicked  are  cruel." 

We  must  nevertheless  return  to  the  brotherhood, 
the  members  of  Christ,  as  the  chosen  objects  of  charity, 


346  DAILY  SERVICE  OF  CHRIST. 

affectionate  care,  and  seasonable  help.  As  we  have  op- 
portunity, we  do  good  to  all  men,  but  specially  to  those 
who  are  of  the  household  of  faith.  The  image  of  our 
Lord  is  in  our  poor  neighbour,  and  we  love  it,  even 
when  we  are  not  thinking  of  the  reward  which  He  will 
bestow.  The  very  name  of  Christ,  even  where  the 
image  is  obscured  or  dim,  or  not  in  any  way  apparent, 
goes  fox  something  in  our  esteem.  Thus  we  honour 
the  supposed  signature  of  a  friend,  until  we  discover  it 
to  be  forged.  In  foreign,  and  especially  in  unbeheving 
lands,  the  heart  thrills  towards  one  who  is  even  nom- 
inaQy  a  Christian.  Suppose  we  are  mistaken  ;  suppose 
we  do  a  kindness  to  one  who  is  undeserving;  what 
then  ?  Christ  is  deserving,  and  we  did  it  in  his  name. 
It  is  marvellous  what  conscience  some  people  make  of 
never  giving  an  alms  amiss  ;  as  if  it  were  the  greatest  of 
blunders  to  confer  an  irregular  kindness  on  some  poor 
suffering  creature,  not  so  good  as  they ;  as  if  charity 
were  the  only  mode  of  erroneous  outlay ;  as  if  every 
superfluity  of  their  wardrobe,  every  extravagant  bauble 
of  their  ornament,  every  costly  rarity  on  their  board, 
did  not  go  to  run  up  an  accomit  of  perverted  steward- 
ship, greater  in  the  aggregate  than  all  they  ever  bestow- 
ed with  their  own  hands  upon  the  poor,  right  or  wrong. 
If  you  behold  Christ  in  your  supposed  brother,  you 
honour  Christ  by  the  ministry,  even  if  peradventure 
you  mistake  the  character  of  the  beneficiary.  God 
only  reads  the  heart.  Those  whom  we  doubt,  and 
whose  profession  we  discredit,  may  have  been  held 


DAILY  SERVICE  OP  CHRIST.  347 

down  by  troubles  and  temptation,  and  may,  in  the  sight 
of  the  Allseeing,  be  as  worthy  as  yourselves.  If  you 
are  "  the  children  of  your  Father  \yhich  is  m  heaven," 
you  will  remember  that  he  maketh  his  sun  to  rise  on 
the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just 
and  on  the  unjust. 

My  hearers,  I  would  not  reject  from  some  semblance 
of  this  brotherhood  the  vilest  and  worst  of  the  sons  of 
Adam.  Each  is  a  man  and  a  brother.  The  nature 
which  the  Son  of  God  assumed,  in  his  incarnation,  is 
their  nature  also.  They  share  in  the  very  humanity 
whi^h  He  took.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  He  "  tasted 
death  for  every  man."  There  is  an  appHcability  of  this 
death  and  its  piacular  fruits  to  every  man.  There  is  a 
commandment  that  the  glad  news  of  this  love  shall  be 
preached  to  "  all  nations "  and  to  "  every  creature." 
There  is  therefore  a  unity  of  the  whole  species,  not  only 
as  the  science  of  the  world  has  demonstrated,  in  one 
parental  pair,  but  in  the  assumption  of  their  very  nature 
by  our  Redeemer.  And  hence  a  true  and  scriptural 
philanthropy  seeks  the  happiness  of  man,  as  man,  and 
as  claiming  a  human  kindred  with  Him  whom  we  love 
and  adore.  While  then  we  are  unquestionably  bound 
to  look  with  peculiar  regard  on  those  who  are  Christ's 
inwardly  and  spiritually,  by  a  vital  union,  we  are  no- 
where urged  to  any  solicitous  inquisition,  how  good  a 
sufferer  must  be  before  we  shall  help  him  for  Christ's 
sake.  And  if  we  should  be  happy  enough  to  wrest  a 
poor  wretch  from  shipwreck,  jail,  or  starvation,  we  do 


348-  DAILY  SERVICE  OF  CHRIST. 

not  suppose  our  Lord  will  any  the  less  remember  the 
tribute,  if  in  the  end  it  should  turn  out  that  the  person, 
far  from  being  a  decent  church  member,  was  no  better 
than  she  who  broke  the  box  of  aromatics,  or  she  to 
whom  the  Master  said, "  Go,  and  sin  no  more."  If  we 
imitate  the  divine  goodness,  let  us  never  forget  that 
when  God's  saving  mercy  comes  to  us,  it  always  finds 
us  unworthy.  Whenever  in  the  Scriptures  we  are  ex- 
horted to  acts  of  beneficence,  we  are  sent  to  the  misera- 
ble as  miserable ;  that  is  enough.  Certification  of  desert, 
especially  of  godliness,  is  not  presupposed.  "  Blessed 
is  he  that  considereth  the  poor ;  the  Lord  will  deliver4iim 
in  time  of  trouble."  Ps.  xli.  1.  And  still  more  parallel : 
"  He  that  hath  pity  upon  the  poor  lendeth  unto  the  Lord : 
and  that  which  he  hath  given  will  he  pay  him  again." 
Prov.  xix.  17.  Jesus  records  the  loan,  and  makes  re- 
muneration, even  to  him  who  cries  astonished,  "When 
saw  we  thee  poor  and  had  pity  on  thee  ?  " 

The  very  striking  portion  of  the  language  used  by 
the  redeemed  which  now  occupies  us,  tends  directly  to 
this  point :  that  a  servant  of  Christ  may  be  performing 
acts  which  the  Lord  accepts  as  benignantly  as  if  termi- 
nating on  himself  in  person,  when  all  the  while  the 
humble  happy  servant,  though  habitually  loving  Christ, 
was  unconscious  of  more  than  the  glow  of  love  and  pity 
towards  a  fellow-creature.  We  do  not  say  that  refer- 
ence to  Jesus,  the  Chief-beloved,  will  not  dart  in,  from 
time  to  time,  amidst  the  charities  of  life,  Hke  stray 
sunbeams  through  the  network  of  branches  in  shady 


DAILY  SERVICE  OF  CHRIST.  349 

places  of  the  grove ;  such  is  always  the  heavenward 
reference  of  regenerate  souls ;  but  the  rapid  and  almost 
instinctive  impulses  of  Christian  kindness  often  leave  no 
time  to  look  fully  at  anything  but  the  famished,  weep- 
ing, or  bleeding  sufferer.  It  will  be  apparent,  upon  the 
least  reflection,  that  difference  in  degree  or  amount,  the 
more  or  less  of  the  benefits  conferred,  makes  no  differ- 
ence in  the  principle.  Do  any  good,  be  it  great  or  small, 
to  a  brother  of  Christ,  and  you  do  it  to  Christ.  What 
new  rays  of  encouragement  are  here  shed  over  the 
walks  of  Q\u:  common  hfe,  which  is  made  up  of  seeimng 
trifles  !  It  is  as  if  the  Lord  Jesus  had  come  with  his 
hallowing  presence,  into  the  scenes  of  our  daily  occupa- 
tion ;  to  sit  beside  our  well,  to  tread  the  planks  of  our 
fishing-boat,  to  smile  on  us  with  remonstrance  when 
cumbered  with  much  serving.  Nothing  is  small,  which 
the  Master  accepts  as  tribute.  Little  things  become 
great,  when  done  in  a  great  cause,  and  out  of  loyalty 
to  a  great  King.  It  is  not  the  price,  but  the  homage. 
Only  a  sordid,  mercenary,  venal  mind  would  prefer  the 
value  of  dollars  and  cents,  accumulate  the  ciphers  as 
you  please,  to  the  value  of  a  ring,  a  lock  of  hair,  a  word 
of  hearty  postscript,  an  old  tear-stained  Bible,  marked 
all  through  its  tattered  pages,  a  smile  of  love,  a  dying 
kiss.  These  are  life's  imponderables,  which  are  also 
invaluables.  The  cup  of  cold  water,  in  the  name  of  a 
disciple,  refreshes  the  soul  of  the  Master  and  has  his 
sure  reward.  The  two  mites  of  the  widow  (less  than 
the  cost  of  three  sparrows)  go  for  more  than  the  thou- 


350  DAILY  SERVICE  OF  CHRIST. 

sands  of  the  opulent.  The  heart  is  all.  The  giver 
stamps  the  gift,  and  the  intention  defines  the  giver. 
So  Hkewise  in.  regard  to  the  person  benefited;  little 
things,  we  may  say  again,  become  great,  when  done  in 
behalf  of  Christ's  "little  ones."  And  these  ar6  con- 
tinually about  us.  The  poor  we  have  always  with  us ; 
and  God  hath  chosen  the  poor  rich  in  faith.  Ostenta- 
tious charities,  of  great  figures,  performed  by  proxy, 
should  never  take  the  place  of  personal  kindnesses, 
though  known  only  to  God  and  the  recipient. 

Life  is  so  ordered  in  providence,  that  what  we  call 
great  deeds  occur  only  now  and  then.  Even  princes 
and  conquerors  cannot  be  always  magnificent.  Espe- 
cially we,  who  are  not  distinguished,  must  find  our 
occasions  of  obedience  in  the  shop,  the  farm,  the  school, 
the  kitchen,  the  office,  the  ship,  the  family.  If  we  are 
not  doing  good  here;  if  a  barren  sentimentality  be- 
guiles us  into  dreaming  of  some  future,  romantic,  con- 
spicuous service ;  if  we  pass  by  the  sister,  the  servant, 
the  alms-person  that  rings  timidly  at  our  gate,  or  the 
errand-boy  who  brings  supplies,  while  we  plan  beautiful 
schemes  of  distant  and  collective  good ;  we  are  not  the 
persons  whom  Jesus  means.  Common  life,  in  its  hum- 
blest domestic  fiow,  is  fuU  of  opportunities  for  honouring 
our  Lord.  You  can  scarcely  make  a  single  turn  within 
the  circle  of  home  and  daily  work,  without  finding  occa- 
sion to  act  out  some  inward  principle  of  divine  benevo- 
lence. "  One  of  the  least  of  these"  Christ's  "  brethren," 
may  sit  beside  your  hearth,  in  the  person  of  some  pa- 


DAILY  SERVICE  OF  CHRIST.  351 

rent,  grandparent,  or  widowed  relative.  Christ  may 
expostulate  with  you,  for  your  neglect  of  some  kinsman 
who  is  "  waxen  poor,"  and  whom  with  coldness  and 
pride  you  abandon  to  the  tender  mercies  of  strangers. 
"  If  any  provide  not  for  his  own,  and  especially  for  those 
of  his  own  house,  he  hath  denied  the  faith,  and  is  worse 
than  an  infidel."  Acts  of  mercy  towards  those  who  are 
daily  meeting  us  in  the  unromantic  paths  of  ordinary 
intercourse,  fall  properly  under  the  head  of  ministries  to 
the  Lord.  A  true  Christian  will  endeavour  to  enhven 
every  particular  of  service  to  fellow-creatures  with  this 
consecrating  intention.  This  spirit  of  love  will  give 
verdure  and  fragrance  to  performances  otherwise  with- 
ered and  repulsive.  Thus,  for  example,  the  home  du- 
ties of  Woman,  restrained  as  she  is  from  publicity  and 
the  guidance  of  affairs,  may  be  woven  into  a  blessed 
tissue  of  service,  often  unconscious,  to  Christ  Jesus  the 
Lord.  Charity  will  not  house  itself,  we  admit,  nor 
selfishly  shut  out  thoughts  of  sufferers  abroad.  But  we 
always  discover  that  those  who  are  permanently  and 
consistently  most  useful  abroad,  are  those  who  have 
first  proved  themselves  most  faithful  in  charities  at 
home.  And,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  the  great 
majority  of  mankind  must  expect  their  usefulness,  in 
other  words  their  work  for  Christ,  to  consist  in  a  series 
of  familiar  and  oft-recurring  acts,  each  apparently  in- 
considerable by  itself. 

"  'Tis  a  little  thing 
To  give  a  cup  of  water ;  yet  its  draught 


352  DAILY  SERVICE  OF  CHRIST. 

Of  cool  refreshment  drained  by  fevered  lips 

May  give  a  stock  of  pleasure  to  the  frame, 

More  exquisite  than  when  nectarean  juice 

Eenews  the  life  of  joy  in  happiest  hours. 

It  is  a  little  thing  to  speak  a  phrase 

Of  common  comfort  which,  by  daily  use, 

Has  almost  lost  its  sense  ;  yet  on  the  ear 

Of  him  who  thought  to  die  unmourned,  'twill  fall 

Like  choicest  music."  * 


How  blessed  a  service !  how  munificent  a  Master !  By 
this  ubiquity  in  his  suffering  brethren,  he  is  always 
present  wherever  a  generous  office  can  be  performed. 
And  let  us  not  forget  the  very  acts  of  mercy,  the  par- 
ticular charities  wrought  by  the  righteous,  and  remem- 
bered by  the  King,  charities  confined  to  no  age  or  na- 
tion, but  practicable  in  whatsoever  spot  we  encounter 
famine,  parching  thirst,  exile,  nakedness,  disease,  or 
bondage.  Let  us  go  in  quest  of  Jesus,  among  the 
half-starved  occupants  of  the  tall,  overcrowded  tenant- 
house,  where  the  restoring  beverage,  so  familiar  to  our 
tables,  never  courts  the  taste  of  the  scorched  and  hectic 
pauper ;  or  sick-beds,  where  the  foreigner  and  emigrant 
pants  for  breath  in  summer  and  shivers  in  winter ;  or, 
most  neglected  of  all,  in  the  prison-house,  abode  at  once 
of  shame,  vice,  ignorance  and  woe.  All  these,  and  such 
as  these,  all  forms  of  misery,  begotten  of  sin,  and 
swarming  most  opprobriously  in  cities,  under  the  very 
eaves  of  Christian  wealth  and  lofty  fashion,  cry  to  us  in 

♦  Lord  Talfourd. 


DAILY  SERVICE  OF  CHRIST.  353 

the  name  not  merely  of  humanity,  but  of  our  Lord. 
Every  system  of  means  which  offers  access  to  these 
representatives  of  our  Master,  and  affords  ways  of  serv^- 
ing  him,  should  be  honoured  and  upheld.  But  we 
should  not  allow  individual  effort  to  be  swallowed  up  by 
great  organizations.  The  machinery  which  intervenes 
between  us  and  the  Saviour,  to  whom  we  would  minis- 
ter in  his  poor  members,  is  an  evil,  even  if  a  necessary 
evil.  Association,  subscription,  collection,  stated  agency, 
beneficent  proxies,  these  are  indispensable ;  but  observe 
for  what  reason.  They  carry  the  alms  of  him  who  is 
too  weak,  too  busy,  or  too  old,  to  go  always  in  person ; 
they  divide  and  methodize  the  work,  so  that  no  part 
may  be  overlooked,  and  no  part  over-served ;  and  they 
cause  a  few,  trained  and  practised,  to  do  the  work  of 
many.  But,  after  aU,  those  organizations  are  best, 
which,  while  they  secure  these  objects,  assign  most  of 
their  task  of  visitation  and  aid  to  free-will  agents,  and 
so  increase  rather  than  lessen  the  amount  of  individual 
charity.  The  Sunday  School  is  one,  and  only  one,  of  a 
class  which  somewhat  realizes  these  ideas.  When  con- 
verts in  large  numbers  are  brought  into  the  church,  and 
with  the  impulse  of  new  love  look  around  for  a  way  to 
do  good,  every  one  knows  that  the  instrument  which 
first  and  naturally  presents  itseff  is  the  Sunday  School. 
The  day  is  coming,  when  we  shall  have  many  others, 
equally  aiming  at  the  rescue  of  fallen  humanity.  At 
present,  this  form  of  charitable  organization  carriesan 
its  train  much  more  than  scriptural  instruction  on  the 
23 


354  ^^^^  SERVICE  OF  CHRIST. 

Lord's  day ;  for  Sunday  School  teachers  are  more  and 
more  Bible  readers  and  Tract  distributors  in  alleys  and 
attics ;  Good  Samaritans  by  the  way,  to  pour  oil  and 
wine  into  hearts  wounded  by  intemperance  and  unbehef ; 
visitors  of  infirmaries,  ships,  and  prisons ;  exhorters  and 
reprovers  of  sin  at  wharfs  and  ferries ;  seekers  for  the 
sick  poor,  up  and  down  the  vast  dimensions  of  our  me- 
tropolitan misery.  If  you  would  find  the  thousands 
who  do  this  work,  while  you  sit  on  your  luxurious  sofas, 
and  criticise  the  indiscreet  outlay  of  pubHc  charities, 
you  must  look  to  the  teachers  in  Sunday  Schools.  In 
my  judgment  the  ehte  of  beneficent  and  therefore  happy 
Christians  in  America  is  in  the  Sunday  School  ranks. 
And  though  after  all  these  weary  days  and  anxious 
nights,  some  of  them  may  exclaim,  "  When,  O  Master, 
saw  we  thee  in  distress  and  ministered  unto  thee/'  they 
wiU  not  fail  of  their  reward.  As  a  means  of  bringing 
out  the  latent  and  diversified  talent  of  a  congregation, 
the  Sunday  School  is  at  present  above  all  others.  But 
the  time  is  not  distant  when,  under  the  influence  of 
fruitful  awakenings  and  the  pressure  of  increasing  love 
for  Christ,  the  principle  now  very  much  confined  to 
Sunday  Schools  will,  by  a  happy  extension,  be  reahzed 
in  sister  organizations,  so  diversified  as  to  detect  and 
employ  in  appropriate  ministry  every  lurking  talent  of 
the  brotherhood.  While,  however,  we  are  awaiting  a 
period  when  the  inward  energies  of  the  Church  shall  be 
called  out  with  more  equable  and  universal  effect,  let 
each  of  us,  in  his  own  post,  be  living  for  Christ.     We 


DAILY  SERVICE  OF  CHRIST.  355 

have  nothing  that  we  have  not  received ;  let  there  be 
nothing  held  back  from  the  Lord.  We  serve  a  forbear- 
ing and  munificent  King,  who,  though  he  needs  none 
of  us,  vouchsafes  to  treat  our  poor  doings  as  if  he  were 
the  party  obliged.  What  a  contemptible  tribute  is  the 
fullest  obedience  of  our  best  day,  considered  in  itself! 
If  we  had  "  done  all  those  things  "  which  are  enjoined, 
we  ought  stni  to  say,  "  We  are  unprofitable  servants ; 
we  have  done  that  which  was  our  duty  to  do."  It  was 
"  duty,"  dues  to  be  rendered,  what  we  ought;  we  owed 
it;  matter  of  debt.  But  mark  how  he  receives  it, 
how  he  gathers  up  the  bruised,  withered,  scattered 
flowers  which  seemed  dying  in  our  hands,  and  makes 
of  them  a  garland ;  biads  them  on  his  brow  as  a  dia- 
dem ;  points  to  them  before  his  angels  as  an  honour. 
The  self-condemning  disciple  sees  no  beauty  or  worthi- 
ness but  in  his  prince.  Conscious  of  short-coming,  he 
hears  the  plaudit,  and  looks  around  among  the  right- 
hand  myriads  in  quest  of  him  whom  it  may  befit.  Not 
me,  assuredly.  "  When  saw  /  thee,  in  sorrow,  and 
ministered  to  thee ! "  Yes,  tliee,  blushing  saiat — ^thee; 
the  Master's  eye  seeketh  thee.  The  moment  has  ar- 
rived for  discoveries,  and  while  the  wicked  is  hor- 
ror-struck with  the  fiery  record  of  his  secret  sins,  the 
"  Mene,  Mene,  Tekel,  Upharsin,"  read  by  the  universe 
in  those  asbestos  leaves,  the  child  of  God  is  amazed  to 
find  that  every  kindness  to  a  httle  one  is  tabled,  owned 
and  rewarded;  "good  measure,  pressed  down  and 
shaken  together."    The  secret  chanty  has  become  pub- 


356  DAILY  SERVICE  OF  CHRIST. 

lie  ;  according  to  that  word,  *'  there  is  nothing  covered 
that  shall  not  be  revealed,  neither  hid  that  shall  not  be 
known ;  "  which  ought  to  teach  us  that  every  thing  in 
the  nature  of  service  to  Christ,  has  a  certain  greatness. 
I  deplore  from  the  bottom  of  my  soul  the  disposition  of 
some  Protestants  to  imdervalue  and  carp  at  acts  of 
mercy  to  the  poor,  the  sick,  or  the  dying,  because  Ro- 
manists have  made  much  of  them.  God  forbid  that 
neglect  of  Christ's  poor  should  ever  be  a  characteristic 
of  Reform  !  God  be  thanked,  that  true  Protestantism 
has  always  walked  in  the  steps  of  that  Catholic  charity 
which  is  older  than  popes  and  monkery.  If  a  Good 
Samaritan  do  a  deed  of  mercy,  let  no  meanness  or  in- 
ward sense  of  delinquency  lead  you  to  scowl  at  it. 
"  Go  thou  and  do  hkewise ; "  go  and  do  better.  To 
take  a  single  instance ;  the  great  difficulties  which  pri- 
vate famihes,  however  wealthy,  sometimes  experience, 
in  getting  nurses  for  sudden  emergencies  of  illness, 
ought  to  make  us  all  exclaim,  "  How  must  it  be  with 
the  poor !  "  and  to  concert  measures  for  training  Chris- 
tian attendants  for  the  sick ;  a  service  which  has  no 
more  necessary  connexion  with  Popery,  than  has  the 
binding  up  of  a  bleeding  wayfarer's  wounds.  For  one, 
I  will  take  the  liberty  of  loving  and  applauding  the  act 
of  mercy  to  a  sufferer,  by  whomsoever  performed ;  and 
this  without  groping  into  those  hidden  motives  which 
can  be  read  by  God  only.  "  The  day  shall  declare  it." 
It  shall  declare  thy  feeblest,  most  faltering  deed.  O, 
Christian  woman  !  O,  httle  child  I  Here  is  the  principle 


DAILY  SERVICE  OP  CHRIST.  357 

to  preserve  us  from  deeming  anything  little.  The  kind 
word,  gesture,  look,  to  a  mother  or  a  brother — some 
withhold  these  who  are  very  pubhc  with  good  deeds  to 
strangers — shall  be  owned  as  unto  Christ.  O,  what  a 
Master !  Who  wiQ  not  love  him  and  serve  him !  Let 
me  close  with  the  words  of  Bishop  Andrewes :  "  There 
is  glory  which  shall  be  revealed ;  for  when  the  Judge 
Cometh,  some  shall  see  thy  face  cheerful,  and  shaU  be 
placed  on  the  right,  and  shall  hear  those  most  welcome 
words,  '  Come  ye  blessed/  They  shall  be  caught  up 
in  clouds  to  meet  the  Lord ;  they  shall  enter  into  glad- 
ness, they  shall  enjoy  the  sight  of  Him,  they  shaU  be 
even  with  Him.  These  alone,  only  these,  are  blessed 
among  the  sons  of  men.  O,  to  me  the  meanest  grant, 
the  meanest  place,  there  under  their  feet ;  under  the 
feet  of  thine  elect,  the  meanest  among  them !  " 


XVI. 


MIRTH 


MIRTH. 


Peoveebs  xvii.  22. 
"A  merry  heart  doeth  good  like  a  medicine." 

In  reading  our  admirable  version  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  a  little  sdiolarship  and  a  little  knowledge 
of  antiquity  are  useful,  in  order  that  we  may  not  put 
modem  and  degraded  meanings  on  terms  which  are 
grave  and  venerable.  If  we  consult  the  Anglo-Saxon 
roots,  or  even  the  father  of  Enghsh  poetry,  we  shaU  see 
at  once  how  this  appHes  to  the  words  mirth  and  merry, 
K  in  modern  parlance  we  distinguish  between  cheerful- 
ness and  mirth,  ascribing  to  the  latter  a  more  giddy, 
unseasonable  and  vociferous  effusion  of  hilarity,  we  shall 
lose  the  entire  force  of  our  text  and  other  passages. 
Mirth,  in  good  old  English,  included  even  the  graver 
kinds  of  cheerfulness.     The  old  Psalter  praises  God 

*  Kew  York,  February  28, 1858. 


362  MIRTH. 

with  "  awful  mirtli ;"  both  words  being  such  as  have 
suffered  deflection.  And  the  adage  of  Solomon  is 
cleared  by  the  exhortation  of  the  Apostle  James :  "  Is 
any  merry,  let  him  sing  psalms."  A  merry  heart  is 
therefore  precisely  a  cheerful  heart ;  and  that  it  "  doeth 
good  like  a  medicine,"  is  one  of  those  truths  which 
every  one  of  us,  my  brethren,  has  found  true,  blessed 
be  God,  in  his  own  experience.  In  the  course  of  re- 
mark on  a  somewhat  unusual  topic,  which  however  is 
given  me  by  inspiration  itself,  I  shaU  endeavour  to 
bring  forward  some  truths  respecting  the  nature  and 
results  of  true  cheerfulness,  and  the  best  way  of  seek- 
ing this  heahng  influence.  If  the  termination  of  the 
discourse  should  be  unlike  its  beginning,  let  us  pray 
that  it  may  not  leave  any  the  less  of  salutary  impression 
on  the  heart.  Cheerfulness  is  a  symptom  of  inward 
health,  as  truly  as  bodily  alertness  is  of  outward  health. 
In  regard,  however,  to  mind  as  well  as  body,  the  symp- 
tom may  itself  become  a  remedial  agent ;  the  effect 
may  in  its  turn  act  the  part  of  a  cause.  'For  example, 
a  sound  appetite,  which  is  a  sign  of  vigour,  may  itself 
tend  to  the  production  of  further  vigour.  And  so,  true 
cheerfulness,  springing  from  mental  health,  may  fall 
into  a  chain  of  causes,  promoting  yet  greater  health. 
You  are  therefore  invited  to  consider  the  means  of  pro- 
moting that  genuine  Cheerfulness,  or  Mirth  in  old  Eng- 
lish, which  doeth  good  hke  a  medicine. 

I.  The  primary  truth  in  this  part  of  the  philosophy 
of  life,  is  that  true  Cheerfulness  is  a  concern  both  of 


MIRTH.  363 

body  and  mind.  The  junction  of  the  immaterial  with 
the  material  part  in  our  nature  is  not  like  the  annexa- 
tion of  two  alien  substances  by  a  tie.  Unhke  as  are 
body  and  soul,  they  were  made  for  one  another,  and 
never  in  their  normal  condition  to  exist  apart.  If  sun- 
dered for  a  Httle,  it  is  that  they  may  be  rejoined.  They 
are  united  in  every  part.  Body  acts  on  soul,  and  soul 
acts  on  body.  This  indeed  was  denied  by  one  of  the 
most  ingenious  philosophers  that  ever  lived,  the  great 
Leibnitz,  who  taught  that  mind  cannot  influence  matter 
nor  matter  mind ;  but  that  the  Creator  had  made  the 
two,  Hke  instruments  tuned  together  from  eternity,  al- 
ways parallel  in  action,  each  responding  to  the  other, 
yet  with  no  mutual  agency.  No  one  now  beheves  in  a 
hypothesis  so  ingeniously  perverse.  Sense  and  con- 
sciousness testify  to  us  every  moment  that  body  acts  on 
mind  and  mind  on  body ;  and  in  nothing  is  this  recip- 
rocal agency  more  undeniable  than  in  health  and  dis- 
ease. A  sickly  body  sours,  or  saddens,  or  inflames  the 
mind:  a  mind  on  the  rack  attenuates,  wrinkles  and 
enfeebles  the  body.  The  old  theory  of  animal  spirits 
still  colours  the  language  of  common  life,  even  when 
physiology  rejects  the  i^otion  of  these  subtile  substances 
running  up  and  down  the  system.  But  all  hypotheses 
apart,  who  knows  not  that  what  we  call  good  spirits 
quicken  the  pulses  and  clothe  the  frame  with  flesh,  while 
fasting,  loss  of  functional  power,  or  injury  to  the  organs, 
engender  melancholy  ?  In  the  large  and  proper  ac- 
ceptation of  the  term,  we  include  the  well-being  of  body 


364 


MIRTH. 


and  soul  together,  when  we  use  the  word  health.  He 
is  not  healthy,  though  with  a  frame  of  iron,  who  has 
moody  flights  and  delirious  fancies.  How  delicate  was 
the  adjustment,  how  perfect  the  temperament  of  the 
parts,  when  the  father  of  our  race  was  created  and 
placed  in  Eden  !  Body  and  soul  were  twin  portions  of 
a  wonderful  corftexture  which  worked  sweetly  and  with- 
out a  jar.  Marvellous  will  be  the  change  in  the  coming 
state,  when  these  vile  bodies  shall  be  fashioned  Hke 
"  imto  Christ's  glorious  body ;"  from  the  resurrection 
to  go  on  without  hinderance,  in  union  with  correspond- 
ing souls,  to  a  glory  never  known  in  Paradise.  The 
nearest  approach  we  can  ever  have  to  this  state,  in  the 
present  life,  is  where  the  7nens  sana  in  corjpore  sano  pos- 
sesses health  and  strength.  Of  such  a  condition  true 
Cheerfulness  is  the  accompaniment  and  indication. 
This  we  may  maintain  without  running  into  absurdi- 
ties like. those  who  talk  about  disease  being  a  crime,  and 
who  would  send  all  mental  and  moral  ailments  to  the 
shop  of  the  materialist  for  rehef.  The  attempt  to  serve 
God  and  our  neighbour  with  a  broken  constitution  or 
a  drooping  mind,  as  many  here  have  learnt  by  expe- 
rience, is  hable  to  great  disappointment.  As  we  would 
not  undertake  a  friend's  business  with  a  beast  of  bur- 
den which  was  lame,  so  we  should  be  loath  to  bring  to 
the  work  of  the  Lord  a  body  which  drags  heavily  at 
every  step.  Yet  sometimes  God  himself  so  plainly 
lays  the  trial  upon  us,  weakening  our  strength  by  the 
way,  as  in  the  case  of  Hezekiah  or  Trophimus,  that  our 


MIRTH. 


365 


lesson  becomes  that  of  resignation,  patience,  and  quiet 
hope.  Even  then,  it  is  our  duty  to  use  means  for  re- 
covery. Even  then,  one  of  these  means  is  that  cheer- 
fuhiess  of  heart  which  doeth  good  hke  a  medicine,  and 
without  which  all  the  materia  medica  might  be  exhibit- 
ed in  vain.  Let  those  who  enjoy  health  and  hilarity, 
acknowledge  dependance,  and  consider  from  whom  the 
blessing  comes.  As  there  is  a  pride  of  family,  of  beau- 
ty, of  riches,  so  there  is  a  pride  of  health  ;  and  some  of 
the  most  signal  and  admonitory  reverses  we  have  ev^ 
known,  have  befallen  families  and  individuals  whose 
habit  it  was  to  vaunt  that  they  owed  nothing  to  the 
physician.  Every  day,  if  possible,  every  hour,  let  us 
give  thanks  that  our  health  has  had  no  interruption ; 
or,  that  it  has  continued  long  ;  or,  after  illness  and  de- 
cay, that  it  has  been  restored.*  "It  is  of  the  Lord's 
mercy  that  we  are  not  consumed,  and  because  his  com- 
passions fail  not."  That  balance  of  the  faculties,  men- 
tal and  bodily,  which  causes  each  and  all  together  to 
work  to  the  greatest  advantage,  manifests  itself  by  a 
natural  lightness  of  temper  and  clear  animation  of  spir- 
its, which  is  most  remarkable  in  youth,  but  which  we 
sometimes  observe  even  in  the  autumnal  days  of  a  beau- 
tiful old  age.  It  is  the  greatest  of  all  blessings  to  the 
body;  but  at  the  same  time  it  is  a  blessing  which 
nothing  bodily  has  power  to  confer.  And,  therefore, 
we  must  look  higher. 

II.  Inasmuch  as  the  soul  has  the  prerogative  of  gov- 
erning the  body,  there  are  numerous  happy  cases,  in 


366  ^ii^TH. 

which  there  is  a  cheerful  heart  in  a  suffering  and  sickly 
frame.  In  every  such  instance  the  inward  principle 
doeth  good  hke  a  medicine.  Many  a  patient  had  per- 
ished years  ago,  but  for  the  fortifying,  sustaining,  and 
even  curative  power  of  a  happy  heart.  Conflict  there 
may  be — ^there  must  be — ^because  the  effect  of  most 
bodily  maladies,  pains,  and  injuries  is  to  subdue^  the 
mind ;  but  where  the  intellectual  and  moral  strength  is 
paramount,  we  have  beheld  even  tortures  made  tolera- 
ble, and  feebleness  of  lungs  or  limbs  set  aside  by  the 
internal  power.  No  matter  how  exceptional  such  in- 
stances are,  they  are  sufficient  to  prove,  how  really  inde- 
pendent of  external  circumstances  an  immortal  soul 
may  become ;  to  refute  the  fallacy,  that  because  the 
soul  acts  through  organized  matter,  there  is  no  longer 
any  soul  after  dissolution ;  and  to  induce  us  all,  in 
times  of  health  and  strength,  to  acquire  those  habits  of 
mind  and  heart  that  may  stand  us  in  stead,  when  we 
come  to  the  enfeebling  trials  of  age  or  illness.  Where 
cheerfulness  survives,  after  the  departure  of  health  or 
bodily  ease,  we  shall  usually  observe  one  or  more  of  the 
following  causes  to  be  present. 

First.  Something  in  the  nature  of  the  malady  or 
distress  which  does  not  spend  its  power  on  the  mental 
part.  "  The  spirit  of  a  man  will  sustain  his  infirmity,  but 
a  wounded  spirit,  who  can  bear  ?  "  Some  diseases  make 
a  speedy  and  direct  assault  upon  the  nervous  system, 
including  its  great  origin,  the  brain.  Some,  especially 
in  acute  cases,  so  fill  the  frame  with  vexation,  annoy- 


MIRTH.  ggy 

ance,  or  even  anguish,  as  to  leave  no  freedom  for  thought 
or  possibility  of  peace.  But  others,  and  these  the  most 
numerous,  though  often  severe  and  sometimes  fatal, 
make  no  advance  to  the  mind's  citadel,  and  so  leave 
reason  in  its  supremacy.  But  this  is  not  enough. 
Hence, 

Secondly.  Cheerfulness  in  suffering  may  be  due  to 
natural  elevation  of  spirits.  Constitution,  education, 
companionship,  employment,  opinions,  customs  of  Hving, 
these  are  mighty  confluent  streams  which  go  to  form  a 
river  of  habit,  good  or  evil,  in  respect  of  cheerfulness; 
which  habit  is  too  powerful  to  be  turned  aside  by  any 
ordinary  contingencies  of  disappointment,  pain,  or  weak- 
ness. Those  whose  profession  leads  them  to  be  much 
in  sick  rooms  are  familiar  with  instances  of  this,  which, 
to  the  inexperienced,  would  seem  fabulous. 

Thirdly.  The  only  source  of  genuine  cheerfulness  on 
the  bed  of  sickness  and  death  is  the  grace  of  God  in 
the  soul.  But  we  have  tarried  long  enough  beside  the 
chair  of  the  invalid.  May  God  grant  to  all  such  the 
cordial  of  inward  heavenly  joy  !  A  third  consideration, 
appUcable  to  every  individual  in  this  assembly,  and 
founded  on  laws  of  nature,  awaits  our  notice. 

III.  Since  both  soul  and  body  are  made  for  exer- 
tion, there  is  nothing  more  conducive  to  cheerfulness, 
the  result  of  their  joint  health,  than  fit  employment. 
A  house  bereft  of  tenants  goes  to  decay.  A  vehicle 
laid  up  without  use  rusts  and  moulders.  A  fine  piece 
of  machinery  is  never  so  safe,  as  when  lubricated  and 


368  ^i^TH. 

moving.  Body  and  soul,  made  for  perpetual  activity, 
must  work,  and  work  together,  in  order  to  be  in  good 
condition.  Of  all  engines,  tlie  human  body  is  the  most 
amazing.  From  the  days  of  Socrates,  as  reported  by 
Xenophon,  philosophy  has  been  studying  the  mechanics, 
the  chemistry,  the  vital  forces,  the  adaptations,  the  final 
causes  of  this  structure,  so  fearfully,  so  wonderfully 
made.  There  is  no  step  forward,  to  new  principles  in 
physics,  in  optics,  in  the  growth  of  structures,  which 
does  not  find  itself  anticipated  by  some  marvellous 
realization  of  its  idea  in  the  human  body.  Considered 
as  a  working  engine,  there  is  none  which  works  so 
cheaply,  with  so  httle  waste,  and  so  long,  or  which  con- 
tains such  provision  for  its  own  repair.  How  every 
survey  of  the  skilful  mechanism  shows  that  it  was  made 
to  move.  Its  central,  propelling  engine  never  stops, 
except  in  cases  which  cause  instant  dread  of  death. 
Heart,  lungs,  and  brain,  play  on  through  all  the  thou- 
sand nights  of  sleep.  An  instinct  of  nature  prompts 
the  young  to  be  in  almost  perpetual  motion.  Absolute 
♦  rest  there  is  none.  And  if,  from  necessity  or  choice, 
any  approach  to  immobihty  becomes  the  habitude  of 
body,  as  is  the  case  in  some  sluggish  and  morbid  na- 
tures, the  result  is  lethargy  and  endless  disturbance  of 
the  vital  functions.     This  frame  was  made  for  labour. 

Equally  true  is  this  of  the  yet  more  subtle,  because 
spiritual  part.  The  soul  is  essentially  active.  Of  a 
mind  that  does  not  think,  no  man  can  frame  a  notion. 
The  human  mind  is  made  to  be  active.    It  is  inquiring, 


MIRTH.  359 

and  athirst  for  knowledge.  Its  active  powers  irresistibly 
seek  for  some  object  on  which  to  exert  themselves. 
Healthful,  moderate  repose,  chiefly  by  change  of  em- 
ployment, is  good;  but  entire,  continual,  unbroken 
quiescence  is  misery.  Never  was  there  a  more  dire 
mistake  than  that  of  men  who  abandon  the  honest  and 
useful  business  of  life,  under  the  pretext  of  rest.  Unless 
they  have  singular  resources,  in  science,  literatm-e,  or 
philanthropy,  they  sink  into  hebetude,  weary  of  the 
everlasting  hoHday,  let  their  heart  corrode  with  sullen 
thoughts,  and  sometimes  fall  a  prey  to  evil  babits  oi 
premature  dotage.  Philosophy,  no  less  than  Religion, 
enjoins — unless  where  invincible  necessities  from  in- 
firmity or  age  clearly  speak  another  language — that  we 
should  Hve  working,  and  die  in  the  harness.  Hence 
the  value  of  a  trade  or  calhng,  and  of  working  at  it. 
I  believe  it  lengthens  life.  I  beHeve  it  staves  off  tribes 
of  maladies  and  conceits.  I  am  sure  it  promotes  that 
spring  and  elation  of  soul,  without  which  life  is  a  long 
disease.  If  you  would  find  the  most  wretched  man  or 
woman  in  your  neighbourhood,  look  for  the  one  who 
has  nothing  to  do.  Unless  allowed  to  prescribe  em- 
ployment, even  the  best  physician  cannot  cure  the  vale- 
tudinary complainer.  Tor  after  all  has  been  said, 
employment  begets  cheerfulness  ;  and  "  a  merry  heart 
doeth  good  Uke  a  medicine." 

IV.  But  man  is  not  merely  an  intellectual,  he  is  a 
moral  being,  and  hence  healthful  cheerfulness  requires 
as  its  indispensable  condition  a  good  conscience.     To 
24 


370  MIRTH. 

be  truly  happy  in  mind,  the  soul  must  be  at  harmony 
with  itself.  I  know  the  objection  that  you  are  framing 
in  your  thoughts,  and  I  will  dispose  of  it  at  the  outset. 
You  are  thinking  of  numerous  persons  known  to  you, 
who  are  immoral,  and  yet  intensely  and  extravagantly 
mirthful ;  you  have  even  known  flagitious  sinners,  who 
were  proverbial  for  laughter  and  good  cheer.  You 
recall  to  mind  the  thousands  who  haunt  every  place  of 
amusement,  and  whose  habits  go  to  sustain  the  dens  of 
boisterous  wassail.  Now,  on  a  calm  and  serious  view 
of  the  case,  leaving  religion  out  of  the  question,  you 
wiU  scarcely  choose  this  species  of  hilarity  as  that  which 
you  would  wish  for  a  beloved  son.  It  is  scarcely  such 
as  will  endure  for  a  hfetime,  or  gild  the  decHning  hours. 
You  have  probably  seen  enough  of  society  to  know 
that  much  of  this  ostentatious  mirth  is  purely  factitious, 
made  up  of  the  sympathies  and  contagion  of  good- 
fellowship  and  wine.  Nay,  you  must  be  young  as  an 
observer,  if  you  have  not  found  that  your  merry  friend 
indulges  in  a  certain  feigning.  He  is  not  so  merry  as 
he  would  have  you  believe.  The  wreathed  smiles  of  his 
artificial  visage  partake  of  grimace.  He  is  more  smiling 
when  met  than  when  overtaken ;  more  full  of  jest  with 
strangers  than  at  home ;  loud  in  company,  stupid  by 
himself;  in  a  word,  bidding  fair  for  an  old  age  of  stupor, 
gluttony,  or  drink.  You  know  perfectly  well,  that  if 
youth  be  left  out  of  the  account,  the  people  who  run 
after  public  amusements  are  precisely  those  who  cannot 
enjoy  sohtude,  and  who  have  never  learned  to  endure 


MIRTH.  37]^ 

themselves.  O,  that  some  of  those,  who  recognise  their 
own  face  in  this  hkeness,  would  lay  to  heart  the  truth 
that  their  conscience  is  diseased! 

1.  Conscience  of  crime  is  a  tormentor.  There  is 
scarcely  a  Gentile  sage  or  poet  who  has  not  said  so,  in 
description  and  example,  for  it  needs  no  inspiration  to 
reveal  how  this  scorpion  of  the  bosom  can  sting.  The 
cases  are  so  horrible,  where  habitual  and  repeated  sin 
has  reached  the  point  of  silencing  and  palsying  con- 
science, that  it  is  hard  to  say  what  may  be  the  temper 
of  a  soul  which  has  passed  under  this  cautery ;  but  who 
among  us  would  seek  such  a  callous  heart  as  the  abode 
of  cheerfulness  ?  Of  all  passions  none  breathes  more  of 
the  atmosphere  of  heU,  than  remorse.  This  ought  to 
gain  the  attention  even  of  those  who  have  as  yet  been 
kept  back  from  presumptuous  sins ;  because  no  one 
ever  became  suddenly  vile,  and  they  know  not  what 
may  be  the  end  of  the  way  upon  which  they  have 
entered,  or  whether  their  closing  scene  may  not  be 
maddened  by  despair. 

2.  Far,  veiy  far  on  this  side  of  atrocious  crimes, 
there  may  be  such  contiQuance  in  transgression,  as  may 
embitter  the  conscience,  and  make  quiet  joy  impossible. 
This  case  may  be  well  studied  by  the  young  man  or 
young  woman,  who,  after  a  rehgious  education,  has  re- 
strained prayer,  neglected  the  Scriptures,  stifled  convic- 
tions, and  gone  into  the  world  for  happiness.  There  is 
a  conscious  dissatisfaction  under  aU  the  gayety.  The 
day  of  pleasure  is  often  followed  by  a  night  of  disquie- 


3^2  MIRTH. 

tude.  The  intervals  between  one  and  another  of  those 
nocturnal  assemblies  which  quench  forever  the  religious 
emotions  of  many,  are  dull  and  pensive.  The  very  face 
of  the  maiden,  who  ought  to  be  rosy,  jocund,  and  alert, 
is  "  sickhed  o'er  with  a  pale  cast  of  thought."  Some- 
thing is  wrong.  The  pride  of  the  house  is  wretched. 
Summer  tours  and  winter  dissipations,  such  as  modem 
piety  may  approve,  fail  to  restore  the  elasticity  of  a 
once  healthful^  creature.  The  unwelcome  truth  is,  the 
immortal  spirit  will  not  brook  the  treatment  of  such 
charlatanry.  The  soul  craves  its  pecuHar  and  appro- 
priate food  and  refreshment.  The  immaterial  and 
aspiring  nature  sighs  for  God.  And  how  can  it  be 
cheerful  ? 

More  of  the  world's  sadness  and  gloom  than  the 
world  chooses  to  reveal,  is  caused  by  hearts  ill  at  ease, 
and  consciences  disquieted  with  sin.  There  are  persons 
who  for  years  drag  about  a  body  wasted  by  the  rest- 
less, consuming  mind.  While  worldlings  charge  re- 
ligious people  with  gloom,  they  are  themselves  often 
kept  in  misery  by  their  want  of  Christian  peace.  It 
requires  no  godliness  to  make  one  suffer  from  con- 
science. Natural  principles,  among  aU  nations,  suffice 
for  this.  Conscience  utters  the  voice  of  law,  or  expos- 
tulation, of  remonstrance,  sometimes  of  menace,  of 
retribution,  of  vengeance.  It  is  for  relief  from  such 
pangs  that  the  troubled,  aching  soul  goes  to  the  Gospel. 
But  thither  the  deluded  follower  of  pleasure  or  gain  can- 
not bring  himself  to  go.    And  till  he  goes,  aU  his  mirth 


MIRTH.  373 

and  gayety  are  illegitimate  and  irrational,  even  if  they 
are  not  simulated  and  hollow.  Thousands  walk  our 
streets  and  flaunt  in  our  assembhes,  wearing  the  garb 
and  the  smirk  of  an  assumed  and  conventional  hilarity, 
who  would  sink  to  the  earth,  like  the  child's  top,  the 
instant  they  should  cease  to  whirl.  If  they  durst  sit 
still  long  enough  to  feel  the  pulses,  they  would  know 
that  they  are  sick  at  heart.  They  have  forsaken  the 
fountain  of  hving  water,  and  have  hewed  them  out 
cisterns,  broken  cisterns,  which  can  hold  no  water. 
Amidst  much  forced  merriment,  they  are  utterly  void 
of  all  that  vernal  cheerfulness  which  is  as  characteristic 
of  a  well-regulated  sound  religion,  as  sweet  flowers  are 
of  Spring.     And  the  tendency  is  from  bad  to  worse. 

3.  Even  in  the  ordinary  narrow  acceptation  of  the 
term  in  the  world's  idiom,  a  good  conscience  promotes 
ease  of  mind.  It  smooths  the  pillow.  It  removes 
acerbity  from  the  tone,  in  hours  of  business.  It  recon- 
ciles the  father  to  his  family  group,  and  the  son  and 
daughter  to  their  home.  But,  in  order  to  clear  away 
clouds,  calm  the  sullen  swell  of  the  mysterious  ocean 
within,  and  throw  sunshine  over  the  late  darkened 
countenance,  there  is  need  of  something  more  deter- 
minately  gracious.  Simple  social  moraHty,  honour 
in  trade,  truth,  candour,  hospitahty,  neighbourly  kind- 
ness, domestic  affection — all  beautiful,  all  good,  on  a 
lower  scale  of  value — ^have  no  adequacy  as  answering  a 
holy  spiritual  law,  and  therefore  no  power  to  pacify  an 
enhghtened  conscience.   Though  a  sinner  may  be  either 


374  MIRTH. 

exorbitantly  gay  or  deeply  stupid  in  his  sins,  he  cannot 
feel  these  sins  and  be  cheerful.  Here  I  touch  the  sen- 
sitive spot  that  denotes  the  disease.  No  transgressor 
against  an  infinitely  holy  God  can  have  healthful  men- 
tal enjoyment,  such  as  does  good  to  soul  and  body, 
while  he  is  vexed  with  the  conviction  of  his  heinous 
guilt.  And  the  point  to  be  observed  is,  that  no  sinner 
can  infaOibly  prevent  such  conviction  and  such  distress. 
In  this  respect,  as  in  others,  the  soul  that  forsakes  God 
remains  still  in  the  hands  of  God.  It  is  not  for  him  to 
say  when  he  shaU  be  disquieted  for  his  sins,  how  long 
this  disquietude  shall  last,  or  to  what  extreme  of  tor- 
ment it  may  rise. 

In  a  Christian  land  hke  ours,  many  a  heart,  wrung 
with  agonizing  reflections,  never  reveals  itself  to  the 
ear  and  heart  of  human  friendship  ;  and  ah  1  cannot, 
will  not,  reveal  itself  to  the  ear  and  heart  of  a  compas- 
sionate God,  in  the  outpourings  of  confidential  prayer. 
Nothing  is  more  wide-spread  than  uncomfortable  feel- 
ings with  regard  to  rehgious  deficiency,  which  are  strong 
enough  to  HU  cheerfulness,  but  not  so  expHcit  and  de- 
veloped as  to  lead  to  decision.  Yet  such  vague  trouble 
of  mind  is  often  the  precursor  of  salvation.  False 
peace,  it  is  true,  sometimes  comes  in ;  introduced  by 
erroneous  doctrine,  self-righteous  satisfaction,  or  spuri- 
ous exercises  accepted  as  graces  of  the  Spirit.  But  even 
this  fails,  either  by  want  of  permanency,  or  by  leaving 
the  heart  still  unblest  with  the  radiance  of  a  serene  joy. 
To  walk  on  earth  with  the  erect  countenance  of  Chris- 


MIRTH.  375 

tian  cheerfulness,  there  must  be  peace  with  conscience 
and  peace  with  God. 

4.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  good  conscience, 
except  where  there  is  a  persuasion  of  acceptance  with 
God,  through  the  mediation  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
This  persuasion  causes  the  face  to  shine  as  did  the  face 
of  Moses  when  he  came  down  from  converse  with  God 
upon  the  Mount.  Here  is  an  irradiation  which  makes 
the  soul  lift  itself  in  holy  cheerfulness,  just  as  the  sun 
in  May  makes  the  violet  and  the  rose  unfold  their 
leaves  with  freshness  of  beauty.  "  Wisdom  maketh  a 
man's  face  to  shine."  And  of  this  heavenly  wisdom  or 
spiritual  knowledge  and  service  of  God,  the  wise  man 
says  :  "  So  shall  they  be  Hfe  unto  thy  soul,  and  grace  to 
thy  neck ;  when  thou  liest  down,  thou  shalt  not  be 
afraid,  yea,  thou  shalt  lie  down  and  thy  sleep  shall  be 
sweet."  Prov.  iii.  22,  24. 

It  is  proper  just  here  to  observe,  in  order  to  meet  a 
difficulty  of  candidly  inquiring  minds,  that  the  earhest 
exercises  of  penitent,  returning  minds  are  not  always 
joyful.  There  may  be  bitterness  beneath  the  soil  and 
in  the  knotty  trunk,  when  the  clusters  and  fruitage 
above  are  dropping  with  sweetness;  or,  as  convales- 
cence from  sore  disease  is  sometimes  preceded  by  a 
fearful  crisis,  so  the  first  transition  from  worldliness  to 
serious  thoughts  of  God  and  heavenly  things  is  com- 
monly marked  by  alarm,  humiliation,  and  grief.  The 
anxious  seeker's  path  circles  the  Old  Testament  Sinai, 
often  many  times,  before  it  strikes  off  thitherward  to- 


376  MIRTH. 

ward  Mount  Zion,  and  opens  yonder  at  the  Cross.  But 
when  it  leads  the  wayfaring  soul  to  "  Jesus  the  Medi- 
ator of  the  New  Covenant,  and  to  the  blood  of  sprin- 
kling, that  speaketh  better  things  than  that  of  Abel," 
it  presents  to  him  a  region  of  springtide  joyfulness. 
There  may  be  weeping  clouds,  there  may  be  alter- 
nations Hke  returning  winter,  but  still  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness  is  there.  It  is  d  Beulah,  a  land  of  cheer- 
fulness ;  such  cheerfulness  as  even  does  the  body  good, 
and  drives  the  crimson  tides  with  new  impulses  of  life 
to  members  lately  collapsed  and  chill.  Are  any  notes 
of  gladness  more  ravishing  than  those  which  the  convert 
hears,  amidst  these  green  pastures  beside  these  stiQ 
waters  ?  Listen  to  what  issues  from  the  mouth  of  a  glo- 
rious and  beloved  Priend,  till  now  unknown ;  hearken ! 
"  Rise  up,  my  love,  my  fair  one,  and  come  away.  For 
lo,  the  winter  is  past,  the  rain  is  oVer  and  gone ;  the 
flowers  appear  on  the  earth ;  the  time  of  the  singing  of 
birds  is  come,  and  the  voice  of  the  turtle  is  heard  in 
our  land.  The  fig-tree  putteth  forth  her  green  figs, 
and  the  vines  with  the  tender  grape  give  fragrance. 
Arise,  my  love,  my  fair  one,  and  come  away."  Song, 
ii.  10-13.  When  Jesus  speaks  pardon  and  love  to  the 
soul,  he  gives  cheerfulness  and  joy.  At  no  epoch  is  this 
so  strikingly  felt,  by  reason  of  contrast,  in  passing  fi:om 
an  anxious  into  a  rejoicing  state,  as  at  first  believing, 
the  love  of  espousals.  But  I  am  so  far  from  thinking 
these  to  be  the  highest  raptures  of  religion,  that  my 
persuasion  is  firm  and  daily  increasing,  of  "  the  mar- 


MIRTH.  377 

vellous  loving-kindness  "  of  God,  to  his  unworthy  but 
redeemed  people,  in  the  latter  stages  of  their  journey, 
even  to  the  very  last.  To  every  true  convert  Jesus 
seems  to  say  "  Behevest  thou  ?  thou  shalt  see  greater 
things  than  these  ! "  When,  therefore,  we  invite  such 
as  are  the  prey  of  unhealthy  anxieties  to  try  the  effects 
of  the  grand  restorative,  we  invite  them,  not  to  sighs 
and  tears,  not  to  manifold  austerities  of  service,  not  to 
a  forsaking  of  all  their  present  solace  without  hope  of 
indemnity,  but  to  a  peace  of  God  which  passeth  aU 
understanding,  and  a  reasonable  groimd  of  habitual 
cheerfulness,  on  which,  as  on  a  tried  foundation,  they 
may  (to  say  the  very  least)  rest  more  securely  than  on 
any  support  sought  or  conceived  of  by  the  soul  of  man. 
Directly  or  indirectly,  you  are  constantly  seeking  some 
tranquillity  of  soul,  some  rest  for  the  immortal  spirit, 
some  slaking  of  the  insatiable  thirst.  You  struggle  for 
it,  as  the  tendrils  of  the  vine  wring  their  way  in  tenta- 
tive movement  towards  the  light ;  you  turn  towards  it 
as  the  crushed  worm  under  your  feet  writhes  in  search 
of  ease.  Out  of  rehgion,  out  of  propitiation,  out  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  you  wiU  never  find  it.  You  will, 
like  those  fifty  fabled  daughters  of  Danaus  in  the  classic 
story,  spend  life,  pouring  water  into  vessels  pierced 
like  sieves ;  or,  more  heavily  roUing  the  mighty  stone 
up  the  arduous  mountain,  that  at  each  remove  it  may 
again  turn  upon  you  with  thundering  bound.  And 
when  you  have  tried  all  that  worldly  mirth  can  do,  you 


378  MIRTH. 

will  say  with  the  repentant  king,  "  I  said  in  mine  heart, 
Go  to  now,  I  will  prove  thee  with  mirth,  therefore  enjoy 
pleasure;  and  behold  this  also  is  vanity.  I  said  of 
laughter,  it  is  mad,  and  of  mirth,  what  doeth  it  ? " 
Ecc.  ii.  1,  2. 


XVII. 


BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES. 


BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES  * 


Isaiah  xliii.  10. 
"  Ye  are  my  witnesses,  saith  the  Lord." 

Christianity,  as  being  from  God,  the  sovereign 
Ruler  of  the  Universe,  asks  no  patronage  from  the 
great  of  this  world.  Learning,  rank,  opulence  and 
power,  which  have  weight  elsewhere,  are  as  nothing 
here.  As  if  to  show  this  in  the  strongest  possible 
manner,  God  chose  to  estabUsh  his  Church  of  the  new 
dispensation  in  absolute  neglect  of  all  such  auxiliaries. 
He  might  have  gained  over  the  sagest  of  the  Porch, 
the  Academy,  or  the  Lyceum,  the  professors  of  Tarsus 
and  Alexandria,  or  the  rabbins  of  Tiberias.  He  might 
have  arrayed  his  evangelists  in  imperial  purple,  and 
heralded  his  gospel  by  lictors  and  sound  of  trmnpet. 

*  New  York,  June  20, 1858. 


332  BELIEYERS  ARE  WITNESSES. 

He  might  have  caused  princely  armies  to  trample  down 
opposing  nations ;  "  But  God  hath  chosen  the  foohsh 
things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  wise,  and  the  weak 
things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  things  which  are 
mighty ;    and  base  things  of  the  world  and  things 
which  are  despised,  hath  Go*d  chosen,  yea,  and  things 
which  are  not,  to  bring  to  nought  things  that  are,  that 
no  flesh  should  glory  in  his  presence."     And  hence, 
even  when,  in  the  progress  of  ages,  the  Church  has 
subsidized  many  of  these  very  influences,  she  has  re- 
ceived them  as  followers,   and  never  jdelded   them 
homage.     Christianity  has   now  so   entrenched  itself 
within  the  science,  the  letters,  the  pubhc  institutions, 
and  the  kindly  afiections  of  mankind,  that  it  looks  with 
a  benignant  pity  on  mistaken  creatures,  who  conde- 
scendingly talk  as  if  evangehcal  truth,  by  their  good 
leave,  was  not  so  bad  a  thing,  and  as  if,  with  a  hberal 
construction  and  some  reserves,  the  Bible  might,  after 
all,  be  received  even  by  liberal  thinkers.     The  decayed 
Hidalgo,  who  stalks  proudly  in  rags  which  his  ancestral 
cloak  scarcely  hides,  is  not  more  ridiculous  in  his  pride. 
Nay,  the  king  who  emerges  from  the  straw  of  Bedlam, 
bowing  as  he  yields  sufiferance  and  admission  to  his 
keepers,  is  quite  as  rational  in  his  supercilious  com- 
placency.    After  a  thousand  battle-fields,  amidst  innu- 
merable trophies.  Revelation  sits  as  a  queen.     From 
every  nation  and  in  every  dialect,  the  wise  and  great 
flock  to  do  her  homage.     The  banks  of  the  Nile  and 
the  Tigris,  the  monuments  of  Judea  and  the  catacombs 


BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES.  333 

of  Rome  continually  augment  the  glorious  accumulation 
of  their  evidence.  The  scholarship  and  philosophy  of 
the  world  are  on  the  side  of  the  Cross.  And  yet,  over 
against  our  host  of  confessors,  our  Bacons,  Pascals, 
Newtons,  Henrys  and  Owens,  we  descry  puny  figures 
coming  forward  to  lend  the  shelter  and  countenance  of 
their  insignificant  pennon !  And  who,  forsooth,  are 
they,  that  the  "  Virgin  daughter  of  Zion"  should  ask,  or 
even  brook  their  aid  ?  By  what  names  are  these  called, 
who  are  thus  eager  to  inform  us  of  their  tolerance  of 
Jesus,  and  their  good  opinion  of  the  Lord  of  hosts? 
Peradventure  some  sciohst,  undisciplined  in  any  one 
severe  science,  undrilled  in  any  ancient  tongue,  unfa- 
mihar  even  with  the  books  of  Scripture,  but  pert  and 
voluble  at  counters,  tables,  clubs  and  drawing-rooms, 
and  admired  in  his  flippant  cavil  by  groups  more 
ignorant  than  himself.  Or,  it  may  be,  some  narrow 
pedant,  all  behind  the  age,  who  has  dozed  in  the  cave 
of  the  Seven  Sleepers,  while  the  world  has  been  rolling 
on,  and  who  in  his  simpHcity  is  ignorant  that  the  mate- 
riahsm  and  philosophism  of  Voltaire,  D'Alembert,  Vol' 
ney  and  Diderot,  are  just  as  vahd,  even  with  decent 
infidels,  as  alchemy,  magic,  or  the  humoral  pathology. 
Who  cares  (except  in  commiseration  for  his  foolish  soul) 
what  such  a  one  thinks  of  Christianity  ?  Or  the  voice 
of  complaisance  toward  our  holy  religion  may  issue  from 
some  back-shop  or  foul  attic,  where,  among  Hcentious 
verse  and  graphic  abomination,  the  thumbed  and 
smutched  volumes,  redolent  of  Birmingham  or   the 


384  BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES. 

collieries,  bear  the  grosser  names  of  Paine,  Carlisle,  or 
Holyoake.  This  is  generally  emigrant  deism,  and  its 
converts  among  us  are  fished  up  from  the  filthiest  pools, 
where  drink  and  unthrift  lie  alongside  of  brutal  igno- 
rance or  incorrigible  stupidity.  Shall  I  add  to  the  Hst 
those  apostates  from  Christianity,  who,  though  bred  in 
evangelical  churches,  never  felt  the  power  of  grace, 
smarted  under  correction  of  their  secret  sins,  found  it 
their  interest  to  prove  that  the  murderer  and  the  demon 
should  be  happy  in  heaven,  kicked  at  the  goads  of  re- 
proof and  overleaped  the  fence  of  mystery ;  the  renegade 
Christians,  who  have  betaken  themselves  to  a  scheme  as 
much  Mohammedan  as  Christian,  to  a  Scripture  with- 
out infallible  truth,  to  a  Cross  without  expiation,  to  a 
salvation  without  Christ  ?  From  any,  from  aU  of  these, 
we  reject  the  proffer  of  ostentatious  aid.  We  would 
gladly  give  them  of  our  stores  ;  but  save  us  from  their 
patronage  !  Not  by  such  attestation  is  heavenly  Wisdom 
justified. 

There  is  something  like  pusillanimity  in  the  warmth 
with  which  certain  professors  of  Christianity  chuckle  over 
every  httle  good  word  doled  forth  in  its  behalf  by  men 
who  scarcely  know  its  tenets,  and  five  in  defiance  of  its 
commands ;  v^hile  the  same  weak  friends  of  the  cause 
overlook  the  testimony  of  miUiohs,  who  have  best  known 
the  reality  of  religion  because  they  experienced  it,  and 
have  yielded  the  strongest  attestation  by  adhering  to 
the  faith.  Infidelity  shows  no  such  throng  of  behevers, 
confessors,  dying  saints  and  martyrs,  as,  with  perpetual 


BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES.  335 

augmentation,  have  been  avowing,  age  after  age,  the 
power  of  grace.  These,  these  are  the  witnesses.  When, 
with  nervous  trepidation,  distrustful  of  your  own  cause, 
you  betake  you  to  the  others,  and  pick  up  the  paltry 
concessions  of  deists  and  heretics,  it  is  as  if  you  should 
call  in  a  chance  New  Zealander  or  Esquimaux,  who  had 
descried  the  distant  smoke  of  a  propeller  on  his  waste 
seas,  to  gain  his  testimony  concerning  the  existence  and 
value  of  a  steam  navigation  which  fills  our  harbour. 
Let  them  testify  of  what  they  know ;  of  our  heavenly 
Wisdom  they  know  as  Httle  as  "  the  eagle,  and  the  ossi- 
frage,  and  the  ospray,  and  the  owl,"  unclean  birds  all, 
sweeping  over  the  desert  where  the  tabernacle  reposed, 
knew  of  the  awful  contents  of  the  ark  of  the  covenant. 
The  testimony  which  such  people  give  to  religion,  taken 
with  its  accompaniments,  is  often  as  horrible  as  it  is 
ridiculous.  A  miserable  suicide  leaves  his  judgment 
that  the  Bible  is  true.  The  most  misanthropic  of  all 
sensualists,  Rousseau,  to  his  elegant  but  poisonous  con- 
fessions of  lust  and  lying,  adds  a  tribute  to  Jesus 
Christ,  whom  he  prefers,  O  marvellous  complaisance,  to 
Socrates  !  It  is  about  a  hundred  years  since  Earl  Fer- 
rers, an  EngHsh  nobleman,  was  carried  to  the  scaffold 
for  his  second  murder.  On  his  way  the  minister  of  re- 
hgion  tendered  to  him  the  admonitions  and  consolations 
which  it  is  usual  for  aristocratic  and  plebeian  felons  to 
receive ;  but  the  school  which  taught  him  murder  had 
also  taught  him  deism :  he  haughtily  rejected  the  good 
offices.  But  then,  not  to  be  too  cruelly  grand,  and  as  if 
25 


386  BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES. 

to  spare  the  humbled  feelings  of  Christianity,  he  deigned 
to  say,  that  he  believed  in  a  God,  and  that  he  had 
always  thought  the  Lord's  Prayer  a  useful  compo- 
sition.* Such  is  the  commendation  which  some  are 
fain  to  chronicle,  from  the  condescending  admissions  of 
absurd  and  immoral  men.  Let  all  such  lie  silent  in 
their  original  worthlessness,  while  a  healthful  love  of 
truth  leads  us  to  suspect  and  avoid  organs  to  which  the 
Hght  of  noon  is  repugnant.  We  do  not  require  the 
tardy,  reluctant  tribute  of  minds  which  still  reject  our 
heavenly  Master.  Mate  and  even  Judas  may  yield 
testimony  to  innocence,  and  we  own  the  power  of  con- 
science ;  but  it  is  to  the  faithful  eleven  that  Jesus  says, 
"Ye  shall  be  my  witnesses."  And  this  leads  me  to 
turn  suddenly  from  the  false  witnesses  to  the  true ;  from 
those  who  yield  a  reluctant,  insufficient  and  insincere 
testimony,  to  those  who  speak  in  honom-  of  the  truth 
with  heartiness  and  acclamation ;  from  outside  lookers-on 
to  believing  inmates  and  loving  children.  Let  us,  then, 
reflect  on  the  meaning  of  these  words  which  the  Lord 
addresses  to  his  people  :  Ye  are  my  witnesses. 

The  truth  to  be  considered  and  apphed  is,  that  all 
true  Christians  are  witnesses  for  God.  And  here  it  is 
hardly  requisite  to  premise,  that  there  is  a  sense  in 
which  God  asks  no  attestation.  He  is  himself  the  in- 
finite source  of  all  authority  and  the  fountain  of  honour. 
Were  all  systems  of  planets,  with  all  their  inhabitants, 
and  every  thinking,  active  creature,  smitten  and  turned 

*  Walpole's  Letters. 


BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES.  337 

back  into  nothing,  the  self-existent,  independent  Jeho- 
vah would  still  be  glorious,  in  the  mutual  comprehen- 
sion of  the  Divine  Persons,  to  all  eternity.  But  the 
Most  High,  in  the  communicative  flowing  out  of  his 
love,  has  come  forth  in  creation,  for  the  very  purpose  of 
reflecting  his  rays  upon  the  inteUigent  moral  beings 
whom  he  formed  by  his  power.  Of  all  it  may  be  said, 
"  For  thy  glory  they  are,  and  were  created."  Of  human 
subjects  God  declares  :  "  This  people  have  I  formed  for 
myself,  they  shall  show  forth  my  praise."  Such  is  the 
grand  intention  of  the  method  of  grace.  Souls  are 
saved,  that  they  may  eternally  laud  and  magnify  the 
riches  of  divine  excellency ;  "  that  he  might  make  known 
the  riches  of  his  glory  on  the  vessels  of  mercy,  which  he 
had  afore  prepared  unto  glory."  Salvation,  when  con- 
summate, will  prove  to  have  had  this  end,  the  exhibi- 
tion of  wisdom,  power  and  love ;  "  that  in  the  ages  to 
come,  he  might  show  the  exceeding  riches  of  his  grace 
in  his  kindness  toward  us,  through  Christ  Jesus."  In- 
deed, this  reverberation  of  God's  praise  is  the  office  of 
all  creatures,  animate  and  inanimate,  being  what  is  fitly 
named  his  declarative  glory.  And  all  this  declaration, 
whether  vocal  or  silent,  may  be  considered  as  a  witness- 
bearing,  which  has  this  pre-eminence  in  children  of 
God,  that  it  is  the  tribute  of  holy  love  and  gratitude. 
Every  true  behever,  then,  is  a  witness  for  God.  In  time 
and  in  eternity,  he  is  a  lamp  kindling  into  brighter  and 
yet  brighter  flame,  in  the  sanctuary  of  his  Lord.  Early 
in  his  ministry,  our  Master  taught  this  to  his  disciples : 


338  BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES. 

"  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world ; "  "  Shine/'  and  "  Glo- 
rify your  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  Por  this  very 
purpose  of  bearing  witness  to  the  truth  every  believer 
was  first  called.  And  as  Jesus,  the  Messiah,  the  elect 
of  God,  is  the  Chief  Witness  and  pre-eminent  glorifier 
of  God,  so  all  the  members  of  this  Head  and  followers 
of  this  leader,  render  a  testimony  according  to  their 
respective  positions.  "  Ye  are  my  witnesses,  saith  the 
Lord,  and  my  servant  whom  I  have  chosen."  But  this 
testimony  to  God  and  his  truth  must  not  be  left  in  its 
generality,  but  traced  out  a  little  further  into  some  of 
its  branching  exemplifications ;  in  order  that  we  may 
see  how  complete,  irrefragable  and  glorious  is  the  wit- 
ness borne  to  revelation  and  the  gospel.  True  behevers, 
then,  are  witnesses  for  God,  by  their  believing,  their 
profession,  their  example,  and  their  suffering. 

1.  By  their  BELIEVING.  To  beheve  God's  words 
is  the  very  first  act  of  adherence.  Here  the  vital  con- 
nexion is  formed  with  God  incarnate.  At  this  point 
the  rebel  wheels  into  the  ranks  of  service.  The  erring 
orb  turns  its  lately  darkened  side  towards  the  Sun  of 
righteousness.  What  though  the  act  be  inward  and 
invisible  ?  God  reads  his  own  inscription  on  the  soul : 
and  who  shall  say  that  it  is  not  read  by  higher  created 
intelligences  ?  Even  among  men,  this  light  is  not  placed 
within  the  crystal  globe  of  a  soul  to  remain  unseen. 
Acceptance  of  truth,  especially  of  Jesus,  the  primeval 
truth,  is  inferior  to  no  act  of  homage  which  the  creature 
ever  puts  forth  during  all  the  career  of  grace.   The  chief 


BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES.  389 

attestation  given  by  any  man  is  himself  to  believe.  He 
"  setteth  to  his  seal/'  that  God  is  true ;  he  witnesses. 
It  is  his  endorsement,  or  subscription.  He  avouches 
God  to  be  his  God,  and  passes  over  to  his  side.  This 
is  introduced  allusively  a  few  verses  later :  xhv.  5  :  "  One 
shall  say,  I  am  the  Lord's,  and  another  shall  call  himself 
by  the  name  of  Jacob ;  and  another  shall  subscribe 
with  his  hand  unto  the  Lord,  and  surname  himself  by 
the  name  of  Israel."  He  who  has  faith  in  the  Gospel 
thereby  becomes  a  witness  for  Cln-ist.  It  is  by  the 
Spirit  in  the  soul  that  behevers  are  enabled  to  say: 
"  And  we  have  seen  and  do  testify  that  the  Father  sent 
the  Son  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world." 

2.  Believers  are  witnesses  for  God,  by  means  of 
THEIR  profession.  This  is  literal,  positive,  and  open 
witness-bearing.  In  Scripture  it  is  often  called  confes- 
sion, and  those  who  brave  perils  in  making  this  avowal 
are  named  confessors.  "  With  the  heart  man  believeth 
unto  righteousness,  and  with  the  mouth  confession  is 
made  unto  salvation."  In  early  times  it  was  often,  as  in- 
deed it  sometimes  is  with  us,  a  joint  attestation,  a  "  good 
confession,"  before  many  witnesses.  This  comes  home 
tenderly  to  all  such  as  have  lately  taken  God  to  be  their 
God,  and  sat  down  among  his  people.  They  then  and 
there  stood  forth  as  witnesses.  To  this  Paul  alludes, 
saying,  "  Let  us  hold  fast  the  profession  [joint  attesta- 
tion] of  our  faith  without  wavering."  AU  professing 
Christians  since  the  world  began  have  been  so  many 
\vitnesses  for  the  Christian  system.     They  voluntarily 


390  BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES. 

come  out  from  the  world  and  take  their  position  on  the 
Lord's  side.  They  avouch  the  Lord  to  be  their  God, 
and  Jesus  Christ  to  be  their  leader  and  captain  of  sal- 
vation. Of  this  testimony  they  are  not  ashamed.  If 
rehgion  is  unpopular,  and  strict  Christians  in  a  minority ; 
if  social  persecution,  in  the  way  of  ridicule  and  calumny, 
arises ;  if  false  opinions,  called  liberal,  but  savouring  of 
perverse  progress,  erroneous  and  heretical,  have  currency 
and  sit  in  the  heights  of  fashion;  if  consequently  it 
costs  something  to  be  a  disciple,  and  the  professor  must 
often  be  singular,  conspicuous,  and  sohtary;  none  of 
these  things  move  him.  As  a  witness  would  go  into 
court  joyfully  and  with  open  face  to  attest  the  character 
of  a  father  or  a  friend,  though  all  the  world  were  on  the 
other  side,  so  the  Christian  is  ready  to  stand  up  for  his 
Redeemer.  There  is  even  a  glorying,  in  the  ingenuous 
soul,  when  adherence  to  a  friend  and  vindication  of  a 
righteous  cause  involve  some  peril  or  obloquy.  The 
majority  of  you,  my  brethren,  are  called  to  profess  the 
name  of  Jesus,  in  a  much  more  quiet  and  secure  way. 
You  rather  gain  than  lose  by  appearing  as  Christians. 
Very  different  is  your  condition  from  that  of  early  be- 
lievers, who  often  signed  their  own  death-warrant  when 
they  owned  Christ  before  men.  But  you  do  as  really 
witness  for  God,  when  you  come  into  the  fellowship  of 
saints,  and  show  the  Lord's  death  till  he  come. 

3.  Disciples  are  witnesses  for  God  by  their  example. 
Actions  speak  loudly  for  any  cause.  "  By  this,"  said 
our  Saviour,  "  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  dis- 


BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES.  39^ 

ciples,  if  ye  keep  my  commandments."  It  is  by  letting 
our  light  shine  that  we  glorify  our  Pather  which  is  in 
heaven.  No  words,  however  well  chosen,  repeated  or 
earnest,  no  professions,  however  public,  can  avail  so 
much  for  the  honour  of  Christianity,  as  a  pure  and  con- 
sistent life.  In  the  early  progress  of  the  Gospel,  this 
was  the  attestation  which  first  struck,  then  attracted, 
and  eventually  convinced  the  Gentile  observer.  The 
truth,  the  peacefulness,  the  meekness,  the  fraternal  affec- 
tion, the  charity  of  the  new  sect,  won  its  way  to  the 
moral  approbation  even  of  enemies.  This  is  a  species 
of  testimony  which,  from  its  nature,  is  continually  on 
the  increase.  The  more  wide  our  field  of  observation 
and  the  closer  our  scrutiny,  the  more  will  instances  of 
moral  excellence,  as  finiits  of  faith  in  Christ,  brighten 
on  our  vision,  as  new  tracts  of  stars  come  into  view  in 
galaxies  and  nebulae,  under  the  penetrative  power  of 
the  telescope.  All  behevers  are  thus  God's  witnesses, 
by  a  holy  life  ;  and  this  to  the  confounding  of  infidel- 
ity, which  can  show  no  such  seals.  Our  very  familiar- 
ity with  this  class  of  facts  deadens  our  susceptibility 
to  their  just  force.  We  almost  weary  of  seeing  men 
made  better  by  Christianity.  But  let  us  see  how  the 
account  will  read,  if  we  reverse  the  statement,  and 
imagine  such  things  recorded  of  infidehty.  Let  me 
feign  the  history  of  such  inverted  revival,  thus :  A  man 
well  known  as  a  Har,  swindler,  and  profane  swearer, 
has  lately  been  convinced  of  the  falsity  of  the  Christian 
religion,  and  has  consequently  abandoned  all  his  evil 


392  BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES. 

courses.  A  riotous,  drunken  ruffian,  the  scourge  of  his 
family  and  terror  of  his  neighbourhood,  has  lately  be- 
come quiet,  pure,  and  temperate,  and  has  closed  his  den 
of  madness,  all  as  the  fruit  of  Deism,  to  which  he  has 
been  converted.  Two  miserable  debauchees  ascribe 
their  return  to  a  life  of  virtue  to  having  embraced  the 
doctrine  of  universal  salvation,  and  express  great  com- 
fort in  the  belief  that  Judas  Iscariot  passed  immediately 
into  glory.  An  entire  community  has  just  sustained  a 
transformation  from  htigious  conflict  and  angry  feud  to 
concord  and  humanity,  from  yielding  to  the  belief  that 
there  is  no  God. — You  are  startled,  my  brethren,  and 
justly.  Infidelity  bears  no  such  fruit  and  summons  no 
such  witnesses  ;  while  the  religion  of  the  Bible  exhibits 
them  with  uniformity,  splendour,  and  incalculable  ex- 
tent. 

4.  True  Christians  are  witnesses  for  God  by  their 
SUFFERINGS.  All  Christian  suffering  is  a  kind  of  wit- 
ness-bearing. It  is  the  greatest  consolation  of  saints 
imder  heavy  trials,  in  long  debilitating  illnesses,  and 
those  retirements  and  straits  which  forbid  active  service, 
that  they  are  all  the  while  passively  serving.  Under 
the  Cross  they  bear  witness  of  God ;  attesting  his  jus- 
tice, his  faithfulness,  his  power,  his  wisdom,  his  cove- 
nant-gentleness;  they  bear  witness  of  Jesus,  that  he 
hears  the  sigh  of  the  humble,  distils  the  dew  of  his 
grace,  sustains  the  fainting  head  with  his  arm,  tranquil- 
lizes and  elevates  by  his  Spirit,  and  shows  himself  alto- 
gether lovely.    Suffering  is  witness-bearing,  O  behever, 


BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES.  393 

when  under  pangs,  or  in  painless  intervals,  when  the 
clammy  moisture  and  heaving  breast  and  languid  eye 
betray  the  wrestUng  just  past,  you  are  permitted  and 
prompted  to  honour  your  God  and  Saviour.  Not  only 
men,  but  angels,  nay  God  himself,  regard  such  endu- 
rance, even  in  a  single  case ;  what  shall  we  say  of  the 
gathering  myriads,  who  for  ages  have  been  coming  out 
of  great  tribulation,  and  ascending  to  the  white  robes 
and  triumphal  palaces  of  Zion?  "Ye  are  my  wit- 
nesses,'' will  the  King  say  to  such,  but  especially  to 
those  who  shall  have  sealed  the  confession  of  the  truth 
with  their  own  blood.  Let  not  the  overstrained  eulogy 
and  superstitious  veneration  of  these  by  a  corrupt 
Church  lead  us  to  deny  the  value  of  their  testimony. 
A  witness  is  called  in  Greek  a  martyr.  We  have  bor- 
rowed the  word,  and  made  it  sacred  in  our  own  tongue ; 
for  though  it  appears  only  twice  in  our  version,  in  ap- 
plication to  Stephen  and  Antipas,  the  very  same  word 
occurs  repeatedly  and  is  in  the  Greek  translation  of 
our  text.  "  The  noble  army  of  martyrs  "  praise  God, 
and  should  not  be  forgotten  of  men.  Among  external 
evidences,  these  avowals  of  men,  who,  at  the  risk  of 
every  thing  earthly,  and  in  contempt  of  every  favour 
and  reward,  o^\^led  Christ  at  the  stake,  or  in  the  face  of 
ravenous  beasts,  abide  conspicuous.  In  regard  to  the 
miracles  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  as  well  as  to  the 
predictions  uttered  by  these  and  afterwards  fulfilled, 
the  attestations  of  such  original  witnesses,  at  the  instant 
of  martyrdom,  are  beyond  all  price.     We  are  forced  to 


394  BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES. 

believe  them.  Every  law  of  evidence  and  every  prin- 
ciple of  human  nature  must  be  violated,  before  we  can 
doubt  the  numerous  concurrent  uncontradicted  testi- 
monies of  those  who  could  not  have  been  mistaken,  and 
who  would  not  in  such  perils  have  deceived.  All  an- 
tiquity shows  that  the  witness-bearing  of  both  classes 
had  a  mighty  effect  in  commanding  the  credence  of  Jews 
and  Gentiles,  on  the  spot  and  at  the  time.  Nor  was  the 
validity  of  the  miracles  which  were  thus  attested  left  to  be 
settled  by  the  intrinsic  evidence  of  the  truth  which  such 
miracles  confirmed.  This  opinion,  which  has  trickled 
in  upon  our  theology  from  the  corrupt  springs  of  Ger- 
man latitudinarianism,  and  which  would  prove  miracle 
by  doctrine  rather  than  doctrine  by  miracle,  belongs  to 
a  system  which,  speciously  gaining  over  our  younger 
scholars,  is  carrying  them  over  by  squadrons  to  the 
camp  of  rationalism.  The  late  eminently  philosophical 
statesman,  Mr.  Gallatin,  once  said  to  me,  alluding  to 
the  lax  opinions  of  certain  erroneous  teachers  :  "  They 
say,  we  believe  in  spite  of  the  miracles ;  but  I  say  I 
beheve  because  of  the  miracles."  And  when  we  accredit 
the  early  martyrs  and  confessors,  we  build  on  the  mira- 
cles and  other  supernatural  sanctions  which  constitute 
the  ground  course  of  the  evidential  wall.  To  which  we 
add,  in  another  sense,  all  the  suffering  and  dying  wit- 
nesses of  later  ages. 

Behold  here,  my  brethren,  in  the  faintest  outhne, 
something  of  the  testimony  which  God  receives  from 
his  people.     To  tJiem  you  must  go,  if  you  would  learn 


BELIEVERS  ARE  WIT^^:SSES.  395 

the  grounds  and  import  of  Christianity.  Only  they 
can  say,  "  We  speak  that  which  we  know,  and  testify 
that  we  have  seen."  They  can  tell  of  a  Saviour  who  has 
proved  himself  sufficient  iu  the  day  of  trial,  who  has 
lifted  them  out  of  the  swoon  of  despair,  and  breathed 
rapture  into  them  with  the  kiss  of  peace.  Their  lan- 
guage vnR  naturally  be.  Come  and  hear  what  the  Lord 
hath  done  for  our  souls.  They  are  not  reluctant  mt- 
nesses,  but  long  for  opportunities  to  report  the  great- 
ness of  the  Divine  love.  Their  number  is  incalculable. 
In  all  human  tongues  these  attestations  wiU  be  given. 
Out  of  all  kindreds  and  peoples  they  will  flock  in  con- 
course to  the  green  and  fragrant  banks  of  the  River  of 
Life,  to  renew,  amplify,  and  perpetuate  that  testimony 
which  they  began  below.  Go  to  them,  ye  doubters,  and 
not  to  the  ignorant  and  deluded  sons  of  philosophy, 
falsely  so  called ;  go  to  them,  and  accept  their  record. 
They  knoio  that  these  things  are  so.  They  have  be- 
lieved ;  and  believing  have  had  the  spirit  of  adoption. 
The  things  of  rehgion  are  reaUties,  ascertained  to  them 
by  an  infallible  consciousness.  It  is  the  certainty  of 
their  assurance  which  gives  earnestness  to  their  unani- 
mous declaration. 

And  ^e,  my  fellow- witnesses  for  God,  consider  whom 
you  attest,  and  what  the  office  you  discharge.  The 
voice  which  shakes  heaven  and  earth,  says,  "  Ye  are  my 
witnesses  1 "  Let  the  solemn  vocation  penetrate,  and 
the  heavenly  sanction  overshadow  your  minds;  let  other 
duties,  callings,  and  privileges  be  merged  in  this.    Look- 


396  BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES. 

ing  back  on  all  the  way  in  wliicli  the  Lord  has  led  you, 
must  not  you  speak  good  of  his  name  ?  Love  should 
constrain  you  to  testify  that  nothing  has  failed  of  all 
that  was  promised.  But  you  live  in  the  midst  of  a 
crooked  and  perverse  nation,  among  whom  ye  shine 
as  lights  in  the  world.  Let  the  light  be  brilliant  and 
unmistakable.  Hold  it  high,  so  that  none  need  ever 
ask  twice  whether  you  ate  on  the  Lord's  side  or  not. 
However  ardent  may  be  the  professions  of  some,  at  a 
season  of  general  awakening,  and  how  firm  soever  their 
attachment  to  Christ's  church  and  ministers,  observa- 
tion shows  that  time  works  marvellous  changes  in 
stony-ground  hearers.  Such  were  the  Galatians ;  warm 
converts,  strenuous  adherents,  eager  witnesses  for  a 
while.  But  listen  how  Paul  addresses  them :  "  Where 
is,  then,  the  blessedness  ye  spake  of?  for  I  bear  you 
record,  that  if  it  had  been  possible,  ye  would  have 
plucked  out  yoiu*  own  eyes  and  have  given  them  to  me." 
Life,  entire  life,  beloved  servants  of  my  Lord,  is  a  period 
of  witnessing.  By  act,  by  omission,  by  speech,  by 
silence,  whether  you  wiU  or  not,  you  are  forever  testify- 
ing. Hour  by  hour  you  are  testifying,  sometimes 
much  more  loudly  than  by  words,  either  for  or  against 
your  Master.  You  are  doing  that  which  leads  others 
to  conclude,  either  that  Christ  affords  a  satisfying  por- 
tion, or  that  his  service  is  annoying  and  wearisome. 
Here,  surrounded  by  the  partners  of  a  common  hope, 
and  supported  by  a  pubHc  opinion  which  honours  the 
Gospel,  you  are  prompt  to  appear  on  the  side  of  truth. 


BELIEVERS  ARE  WITNESSES.  397 

It  costs  no  sacrifice  of  profit,  ease,  or  good  name.  But 
change  the  scene ;  go  among  the  wicked,  or  even  the 
gay.  Enter  the  smnmer  circle,  at  pubHc  resorts,  where 
strict  conformity  to  God's  law  is  imknown ;  and  allow 
me  to  ask,  is  your  mind  made  up  to  be  a  witness  for 
your  Redeemer  there  also  ?  Are  you  likely  to  be  firm 
for  Christ,  when  all  the  tide  of  opinion,  business, 
pleasure,  runs  the  other  way ;  when  to  be  a  consistent 
disciple  is  to  be  pointed  at  and  shunned ;  and  when 
your  testimony  may  be  as  unwelcome  as  it  is  soHtary  ? 
For  such  Christianity,  you  need  a  courage  which  will 
never  come  to  you  except  upon  your  knees.  Though 
left  as  solitary  as  was  your  Lord,  and  like  him  beset 
with  false  witnesses,  if  you  only  have  his  Spirit,  if  his 
life  flows  into  you,  if,  beheving  on  and  clinging  to  him, 
you  have  inward  pulses  which  keep  time  with  his  heart ; 
you  will  stand  in  the  evil  day,  you  wiU  win  souls,  you 
will  recommend  the  Gospel,  you  wiU  live  teaching  and 
die  witnessing.     Amen. 


XVIIl 


THE    CHURCH    A    TEMPLE 


THE  CHUECH  A  TEMPLE  * 


1  Petee  ii.  5. 
"Ye  also,  as  lively  stones,  are  built  up  a  spiritual  house." 

It  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  for  us  to  enter  into 
the  feelings  of  an  ancient  Israelite  in  regard  to  the 
temple  at  Jerusalem ;  yet  unless  we  do  so  in  some  de- 
gree, we  must  lose  the  force  of  numerous  figures  in  the 
New  Testament,  which  seized  upon  the  imagination  of 
the  Jew.  To  him,  that  structure  was  the  best  of  all 
terrestrial  things.  It  was  at  once  the  citadel  of  his 
commonwealth  and  the  sanctuary  of  his  Church.  To 
this  spot  his  face  was  turned  in  devotion,  wherever  he 
might  wander  on  the  earth's  surface.  Its  walls  con- 
tained all  that  he  held  most  splendid  in  ceremonial  and 
most  sacred  in  mystery.     In  some  sense  it  was  the 

*  New  York,  April  3, 1854. 
26 


402  THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE. 

centre,  not  of  Palestine  only,  but  of  the  world,  for  his 
Lord  had  said,  "  My  house  shall  be  called  a  house  of 
prayer  for  all  nations."  Its  pomps  and  praises,  the 
volume  of  its  harmonies  both  vocal  and  instrumental,  its 
bleeding  and  smoking  propitiations,  ifs  odorous  clouds 
of  incense,  its  ablutions  and  sprinkhngs,  its  throngs  of 
exalted  worshippers,  its  festive  processions,  and  its  inac- 
cessible mysterious  shrine,  aU  conspired  to  give  it  a 
hold  on  his  admiration  and  his  affections,  such  as  no 
other  material  structure  ever  gained  over  human  hearts. 
Hence  the  most  available  charge  against  our  Lord  Jesus, 
and  that  which  was  best  fitted  to  make  the  populace 
infuriate,  was  that  he  had  spoken  contemptuously  of  the 
holy  fabric.  It  was  not  unnatural,  that  in  a  period  of 
formal  rehgion,  the  minds  of  the  people  should  have 
become  knit  to  the  external  pile.  No  gleam  of  its 
higher  mystery  and  spiritual  intention  had  yet  broken 
upon  their  worldly  minds.  Not  yet  had  it  been  re- 
vealed that  God  is  a  Spirit,  and  that  they  who  worship 
him  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  any- 
where, everywhere,  and  not  at  Jerusalem  or  this  moun- 
tain. And  yet,  from  the  beginning,  God  had  been  pre- 
paring his  Church  for  better  things,  by  means  of  this 
visible  type,  and  clearing  the  way  for  the  setting  up  of 
a  house  not  made  with  hands.  Even  in  the  rudest 
stages  of  religious  discipline,  aU  that  is  outward,  palpa- 
ble or  formal,  is  in  its  nature  temporary,  and  is  used  to 
sjmbohze  something  greater  and  loveher,  beyond  the 
domain  of  sense.     The  day  was  rapidly  approaching 


THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE. 


408 


when  this  glorious  architecture  should  be  given  to  the 
flames,  and  when  Israel  should  be  without  an  earthly 
sanctuary.  The  vanishing  of  the  typical  system  vras 
foreshown,  when  the  vail  of  the  temple  was  rent  in  twain 
from  the  top  to  the  bottom.  Shortly  after  this,  the 
Church  began  to  take  its  new  and  Christian  form.  But 
those  who  came  under  this  New  Testament  influence 
from  out  of  Judaism,  were  steeped  in  associations  de- 
rived from  Hebrew  rites.  The  apostles,  therefore, 
themselves  Jews,  found  it  natural  and  important  to  ad- 
dress them  in  terms  derived  from  the  old  economy; 
and  hence  we  find  no  figures  more  abundant  than  those 
which  are  derived  from  the  temple  and  its  rites.  In 
this  instance,  the  mind  of  the  apostle  Peter,  full  of  the 
strains  of  Old  Testament  psalmody,  thinks  of  his  adora- 
ble Redeemer  as  predicted  in  the  118th  Psalm.  The 
words  of  David  are :  "  The  stone  which  the  builders 
refused  is  become  the  head  stone  of  the  comer."  All 
in  a  glow  with  the  image,  his  imagination  under  divine 
influence,  proceeds  to  carry  up  a  spiritual  structure  on 
this  foundation,  and  to  fill  it  with  a  worshipping  spir- 
itual Israel.  So  he  breaks  forth :  "  To  whom  coming, 
as  unto  a  Hving  stone,  disallowed  indeed  of  men,  but 
chosen  of  God  and  precious,  ye  also  as  Hvely  stones  are 
built  up  a  spiritual  house,  an  holy  priesthood,  to  offer 
up  spiritual  sacrifices  acceptable  to  God  by  Jesus 
Christ."  The  warmth  of  Oriental  style  does  not  shrink 
from  aD.  that  our  severer  rules  might  regard  as  a  mix- 
ture of  metaphors.     The  rapid  transition  of  mind  here 


404  THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE. 

certainly  gives  origin  to  a  double  figure ;  for  the  same 
persons  who  in  one  clause  are  called  the  temple,  are  in 
the  next  represented  as  the  worshippers.  Both  temple 
and  worshippers,  in  the  type,  were  intended  to  show 
forth  the  Church  of  God,  or  the  entire  body  of  sanctified 
believers.  Prom  these  words,  therefore,  I  would  invite 
you  to  consider  with  me  the  Church  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  as  a  temple. 

1.  It  is  a  SPIRITUAL  HOUSE.  The  apostle  Paul 
speaks  of  a  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the 
heavens.  Here  also  we  may  say  with  him,  "  that  was 
not  first  which  was  spiritual,  but  that  which  is  natural, 
and  afterwards  that  which  is  spiritual."  Such  is  the 
order  of  divine  revelation  to  the  human  mind.  We 
are  led  from  the  material  to  the  immaterial.  Common 
apprehensions  fail  to  reach  this ;  and  there  are  many 
who  never  get  beyond  that  which  can  be  seen  and  felt. 
But  in  proportion  as  we  gain  insight  into  God's  plan 
and  are  elevated  by  faith,  we  learn  to  value  the  things 
unseen,  and  awake  to  the  knowledge  of  a  vast  and  glo- 
rious spiritual  universe,  of  which  all  that  surrounds  us 
is  but  the  husk  and  emblem.  Our  Lord  was  continually 
engaged  in  lifting  the  minds  of  his  disciples  from  all 
the  glory  of  their  darling  shrine,  to  the  wonders  of  an 
imperishable  house.  You  remember  that  when  they 
would  have  attracted  his  admiration  to  the  buildings  of 
the  temple,  he  replied,  "  See  ye  not  all  these  things  ? 
Verily  I  say  unto  you,  there  shall  not  be  left  here  one 
stone  upon  another,  that  shall  not  be  thrown  down." 


THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE.  4()5 

All  was  to  make  way  for  a  masterpiece  of  spiritual 
architectm'e,  which  only  the  wise  and  the  beheving  have 
eyes  to  behold. 

2.  It  is  very  obvious  that,  of  this  spiritual  temple, 
the  "  BUILDER  AND  MAKER  IS  GoD."  It  is  for  his  glory 
and  for  his  residence.  The  plan  and  the  execution  are 
his.  In  all  ages  of  the  world  his  eye  has  contemplated 
this  structure,  and  his  arm  is  carrying  it  forward.  In 
the  spiritual  temple,  God  is  pre-eminently  doing  his  ovm 
work ;  manifesting  his  own  perfections ;  exalting  created 
intelligences  to  purity  and  happiness ;  and  producing 
those  heavenly  virtues  which  are  more  precious  than  all 
the  marble,  gold,  and  gems  of  the  earth,  and  which  are 
wrought  only  by  the  Spirit  of  hohness. 

3.  Yet  this  spiritual  temple,  Teared  by  the  hand  of 
the  infinite  Spirit,  is  nevertheless  no  shadowy  edifice.  It 
is  in  a  high  sense  real,  being  composed  of  human  be- 
ings. Angels  may  contemplate  the  work  and  aid  in 
it,  but  they  form  no  part  of  it.  "  Ye,"  says  our  apostle 
to  Christians,  "  ye,  as  Hvely  (that  is,  living,  animated) 
stones,  are  built  up  a  spiritual  house."  Such  is  the 
value  and  dignity  of  a  human  soul,  made  in  the  image 
of  God,  redeemed  by  the  Son,  and  dwelt  in  by  the 
Spirit,  that  there  is  a  consummate  glory  in  a  structure 
of  which  every  component  part  is  such  a  soul.  In  other 
places,  the  individual  believer  is  represented  as  a  temple 
of  God ;  but  here,  by  a  change  of  figure,  which  beauti- 
fully and  expressively  brings  forward  the  fellowship, 
multitude  and  union  of  believers,  the  whole  are  set  be- 


406  THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE. 

fore  US  as  compacted  into  one  perfect  structure.  The 
stones  are  no  longer  masses  of  granite,  marble  or  por- 
phyry, but  men,  redeemed  and  sanctified,  and  here- 
after to  be  perfected  and  glorified.  Every  saint  has  his 
appointed  place.  The  temple  comprises  all  the  righteous, 
who  have  been,  are,  and  shall  be  to  the  end  of  time. 
We  often  think  of  behevers,  as  separate  existences,  and 
sometimes  of  the  Church  on  earth  at  a  particular  time ; 
but  we  must  also  rise  to  the  contemplation  of  the  com- 
plete body,  in  which  not  one  true  servant  of  God  is 
wanting,  from  righteous  Abel  to  the  last  who  shall  be 
summoned  to  glory  by  the  final  trump. 

4.  The  temple  has  a  foundation.  We  need  not 
wander  far  to  find  what  it  is.  "  Behold,  I  lay  in  Zion 
a  chief  corner-stone,  elect,  precious.*'  "  Other  founda- 
tions can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus 
Christ."  "  Built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles 
and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  cor- 
ner stone,  in  whom  all  the  building  fitly  framed  together 
groweth  unto  an  holy  temple  in  the  Lord,  in  whom  ye 
also  are  builded  together  for  an  habitation  of  God 
through  the  Spirit."  It  was  meet  that  the  Son  of  God 
should  take  humanity,  in  order  that  he  might  be  the 
foundation  of  this  human  temple.  It  rests  on  him,  for 
its  coherence,  beauty,  grandeur  and  very  existence.  Its 
walls  are  cemented  by  his  precious  blood.  Every  lively 
stone  in  the  pile  bears  his  image,  and  is  fashioned  after 
the  head  stone  of  the  corner.  His  truth  is  the  basis  of 
all  faith  in  the  Church.    His  righteousness  is  the  ground 


THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE.  40^ 

of  all  pardon,  acceptance,  and  title  to  life.  His  Spirit 
prepares  and  adorns  each  individual  member,  brings 
him  into  the  structure  and  keeps  him  there.  Each 
soul,  and  all  conjoined,  rest  and  rely  on  Jesus  Christ 
alone,  as  the  source  of  strength,  union,  and  perfection. 
The  whole  heavenly  architecture  is  of  him  and  for  him, 
and  his  divine  virtue  is  felt  in  every  part  of  it,  from  the 
base  to  the  summit. 

5.  The  work  of  rearing  this  temple  is  now  going 
ON  upon  earth.  This  is  expressly  said  by  Peter :  "  To 
whom  coming,  as  hving  stones,  ye  also  are  built  up ; " 
that  is,  ye  are  now  in  the  very  process  of  being  built 
up  a  spiritual  house.  It  may  be  aflSrmed  that  our 
sinful  world  is  permitted  to  remain  chiefly,  if  not  solely, 
for  this  very  purpose,  that  the  work  of  the  hving  temple 
may  go  on.  When  a  wise  architect  is  about  to  frame  a 
great  edifice,  he  selects  his  site,  designs  his  plan,  and 
gathers  his  materials.  From  the  guilty  race  of  Adam 
God  is  perpetually  choosing  and  calling  those  who  shall 
be  the  hving  stones  in  his  temple.  Though  the  con- 
summation is  to  be  in  another  state,  the  busy  process  of 
preparation  and  erection  is  in  this.  When  the  temple 
of  Solomon  was  to  be  reared,  what  hewings,  shaping  and 
transportation  of  cedars  in  the  forests  of  Lebanon ;  what 
excavations  in  the  quarries  of  the  vale  ;  what  castings  in 
the  plain  of  Zarthan ;  what  moulding  and  carving  of 
gold  and  silver  among  the  artificers  of  Israel.  All  was 
looking  towards  the  going  up  of  the  stately  waQs  upon 
Moriah,  without  the  sound  of  axe  or  hammer.    Thus  may 


If  ri  fw 


408  THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE. 

we  gain  an  emblem  of  what  is  now  in  process  among 
ourselves.  Our  state  is  altogether  preparatory.  Nothing 
has  yet  taken  its  real  shape.  All  that  we  call  the  work 
of  rehgion  or  of  the  Gospel  among  men,  is  only  the 
getting  out  of  the  material,  or  the  building  of  it  into  its 
place.  Forgetting  this,  we  frequently  judge  amiss  of 
all  that  God  is  doing,  and  "  quite  mistake  the  scaffold 
for  the  pile."  No  wise  critic  will  judge  of  a  half-finished 
architecture.  At  such  a  stage  much  is  temporary,  much 
is  obscure,  all  is  incomplete.  The  beautiful  idea  of  the 
artist  hes  hidden  among  a  chaos  of  platforms,  engines, 
and  heaps  of  rubbish.  Such  is  precisely  the  condition 
of  the  Church  below.  It  is  at  best  but  a  small  part  of 
the  entire  structure,  which  belongs  to  all  ages,  and 
which  is  to  see  an  age  when  behevers  shall  be  increased, 
perhaps,  as  a  thousand  to  one.  Much  that  we  behold 
is,  after  all,  only  scaffolding  that  shall  be  removed,  or 
rubbish  that  shall  be  cast  away.  But  meanwhile  the 
work  is  going  forward,  and  the  walls,  however  slowly, 
are  rising.  Every  thing  in  God's  providence  respecting 
the  present  world  is  made  to  lead  to  this.  All  preach- 
ing of  the  Word,  diffusion  of  truth,  conversion  of  sin- 
ners, and  edification  of  saints,  are  means  in  God's  hands 
for  carrying  up  his  structure.  Prophets  and  apostles 
are  humble  instruments  in  the  work.  Thus  Paul,  a 
wise  master-builder,  says :  "  Ye  are  God's  building.  I 
have  laid  the  foundation,  and  another  buildeth  thereon. 
Know  ye  not  that  ye  are  the  temple  of  God,  and  that 
the  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  you  ?     If  any  man  defile 


THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE.  ^qq 

the  temple  of  God,  him  shall  God  destroy;  for  the  tem- 
ple of  God  is  holy,  which  temple  are  ye." 

6.  But  we  must  go  further.  Not  only  is  the  work 
going  on,  but  under  the  mighty  hand  of  God  the  pro- 
cess is  so  conducted  by  the  wise  position,  due  adjust- 
ment, and  manifold  mutual  relations  of  all  the  parts,  as 
to  procure  that  symmetry  and  perfection  which  is  one 
day  to  be  the  admiration  of  the  universe,  who  will  see 
in  it  the  brightest  display  of  the  Divine  perfections. 
The  plan  is  perfect,  and,  unlike  human  plans,  is  carried 
out  with  the  absence  of  all  defect  and  error.  Prom  the 
massive  foundation  to  the  humblest  interior  appendage^ 
all  belongs  to  one  perfect  draught ;  all  exhibits  one  sub- 
lime idea.  Every  stone,  timber,  moulding,  surface,  tint 
and  pinnacle,  is  just  what  was  designed,  in  its  proper 
place  and  just  connexion.  In  every  well-ordered  build- 
ing, there  are  parts  which  could  not  be  anywhere  else, 
without  being  useless,  offensive,  or  hurtful.  So  in  the 
"  spiritual  house,"  each  of  the  "  lively  stones  "  is  laid 
according  to  God's  infaUible  design ;  each  soul  is  built 
into  its  proper  niche,  each  Christian  that  is  born  into 
the  world  appears  at  the  right  time  and  place,  if  not  for 
his  o^vTi  highest  exaltation  and  reward,  yet  for  the  grand 
result  of  the  Divine  fabric.  Each  has  a  fixed  relation 
to  all  the  rest,  but  chiefly  to  those  which  Ue  nearest. 
Of  aU  the  millions  of  converted  souls,  there  is  not  one 
which  has  not  his  office  and  function  in  the  extensive 
scheme;  and  though,  strictly  speaking,  the  Creator 
cannot  be  said  to  need  any  of  his  creatures,  yet  in 


410  THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE. 

reference  to  the  execution  of  his  plan,  each  individual  is 
demanded  for  the  very  position  which  he  occupies.  The 
structure  does  not  rise  "like  an  exhalation,"  suddenly 
and  all  at  once,  but  by  slow  degrees.  The  times  for 
each  successive  development  in  the  Church  are  ordered 
by  an  infinite  Wisdom;  and  while  our  impatience 
murmurs  at  the  tardiness  of  Him  with  whom  "  a  thou- 
sand years  are  as  one  day,"  every  revolution,  persecu- 
tion, reformation  and  re\ival,  falls  out  exactly  at  its 
predetermined  instant,  while  "the  building  groweth 
unto  a  holy  temple  in  the  Lord."  As  part  answers  to 
part  by  a  felicitous  arrangement,  each  member  con- 
tributes its  appropriate  service.  The  truth  of  God  and 
the  graces  of  his  Spirit  pervade  the  whole ;  and  the 
religious  advancement  of  the  humblest  behever  tends  to 
the  general  end ;  for  every  part  is  connected  with  Christ, 
"  from  whom  the  whole  body,  fitly  joined  together  and 
compacted  by  that  which  every  joint  suppHeth,  accord- 
ing to  the  effectual  working  in  the  measure  of  every 
part,  maketh  increase  of  the  body,  unto  the  edifying 
of  itself  in  love."  Our  views  are  necessarily  limited  to 
the  growth  of  the  Church  in  our  own  particular  age, 
and  even  this  demands  a  scope  of  observation  wider 
than  is  given  to  most ;  but  the  Infinite  Mind  takes  in 
the  lapse  of  ages,  contemplates  periods  yet  more  aston- 
ishing than  any  which  have  revolved,  and  sees  the  mag- 
nificent spiritual  house,  going  up  in  stately  proportions 
through  them  all. 

As  each  renewed  soul  is  just  that  which  God  has 


THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE.  4]^]^ 

made  it,  bom  in  the  country  and  the  age  which  he 
foreknew,  trained  by  providences  which  he  designed, 
and  removed  to  the  upper  world  at  his  good  pleasure, 
we  may  rest  assured  that  Divine  skill  will  never  want 
proper  instruments,  and  that  no  vacuity  will  exist  in 
those  temple-chambers,  for  lack  of  men  or  talents,  when 
their  hour  has  come.  In  surveying  the  past,  we  observe 
a  beautiful  fitness  and  an  enchanting  variety  in  the  ma- 
terials which  have  been  already  built  into  that  part  of 
the  edifice  which  has  thus  far  been  reared.  How  unlike 
the  corps  of  prophets  to  the  corps  of  apostles ;  and  how 
unhke  the  several  individuals  of  each.  We  have  Scrip- 
ture authority  for  placing  these  among  the  most  honour- 
able and  sustaining  parts  of  the  fabric,  near  the  corner- 
stone ;  for  we  are  "  bmlt  upon  the  foundation  of  the 
apostles  and  prophets."  Isaiah  with  his  evangehc 
clarion,  Jeremiah  with  his  pastoral  reed  of  sorrows,  and 
David  with  his  many-voiced  harp,  sometimes  loud  in 
notes  of  triumph  and  sometimes  subdued  to  the  voice 
of  weeping,  stand  out  with  a  marked  individuahty  which 
becomes  the  more  surprising,  the  more  nearly  we  ex- 
amine the  distinctive  features.  They  may  be  likened  to 
those  immense  but  goodly  stones,  carried  up  in  courses, 
along  the  precipitous  side  of  the  valley,  to  form  the 
bases  for  the  temple  of  Solomon.  The  twelve  apostles, 
including  the  last  and,  humanly  speaking,  the  greatest, 
though  brethren,  how  unhke!  Who,  for  an  instant, 
could  mistake  Paul  for  Peter,  or  either  of  them  for 
John  ?     They  occupy  salient  angles  of  the  great  foun- 


412 


THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE. 


dation,  and  lie  nearest  to  the  corner-stone,  elect  and 
precious.  Some  of  their  brethren,  though  not  visible 
in  the  front  which  meets  our  eye,  may  have  done  equal 
service  in  the  bearing  up  of  the  mass.  Martyrs  and 
confessors  found  their  place,  in  succeeding  ages,  as  the 
wall  advanced ;  some  as  glorious  for  ornament  as  strong 
for  use.  When  love  needed  a  signal  display,  amidst 
the  blood  of  martyrdom,  we  see  it  immortalized  in  an 
Ignatius  and  a  Polycarp.  When  stalking  heresy  needed 
a  front  of  steel  to  stand  unmoved  against  aU  its  columns, 
we  find  an  "Athanasius  against  the  world."  When 
the  language  of  Greece  is  to  be  elevated  to  new  dignity 
by  conveying  the  wonders  of  Christianity,  we  hear  the 
golden  eloquence  of  a  Basil  and  a  Chrysostom.  When 
Roman  philosophy  had  died  out  of  the  world,  we  behold 
it  revived  in  an  Augustine,  the  father  of  the  fathers. 
Later  down  in  ages,  we  catch  ghmpses  even  amidst 
Romish  corruptions  of  a  Bernard  and  a  Kempis.  The 
note  of  alarm  is  given  to  a  sleeping  carnal  church,  first 
by  Wiclif,  Huss  and  Jerome,  then  by  Zwingle,  Luther, 
Calvin,  and  Knox.  But  time  would  fail  me,  should  I 
try  to  illustrate  by  particular  instances  the  truth,  that 
in  God's  building  every  variety  of  temper,  genius,  and 
talent  finds  its  place,  and  that  heavenly  wisdom  will 
never  suffer  any  want  of  material  for  the  sacred  walls. 
Let  it  be  for  the  encouragement  of  such  among  us  as 
are  conscious  of  no  high  powers,  and  who  sometimes 
wonder  for  what  service  in  Christ's  Church  we  are  fit, 
that  in  a  great  structure  all  the  component  portions  are 


THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE.  4]^  3 

not  equally  great.  There  is  not  only  the  solid  and  the 
costly,  the  rock  and  timber ;  not  only  the  precious  and 
ornamental,  the  gold  and  silver ;  but  likewise  the  hum- 
ble and  subsidiary,  yea,  even  the  otherwise  valueless  and 
the  minute;  for  not  even  mortar  and  earth  can  be 
spared  from  the  construction.  The  Great  Builder  has 
some  lowly  crevice  in  his  house,  which  the  meanest  and 
feeblest  of  us  may  occupy.  We  may  not  be  called  to 
bear  up  buttresses,  or  to  crown  turrets,  or  to  adorn  the 
carved  work  of  the  sanctuary  ;  but  it  should  satisfy  us, 
if  in  some  remote  recess  and  unknown  shade,  we  fulfil 
the  office  which  the  Master  has  laid  upon  us. 

The  building  of  God,  compared  with  which  all  hu- 
man enterprises  and  structures  are  as  nothing,  goes  on 
in  a  manner  unobserved  by  men,  in  a  mysterious  silence, 
though  often  amidst  surrounding  turmoil  and  alarms. 
Divine  Providence  can  turn  to  its  own  account  events 
the  most  untoward  and  convulsions  the  most  appaUing. 
The  blood  of  martyrs  was  the  seed  of  the  Church.  The 
irruption  over  the  Greek  and  Roman  nations  of  the 
great  barbaric  hordes  from  the  Indo-Germanic  stock, 
laid  open  the  way  for  the  coalescence  of  Christianity 
with  a  new  social  and  pohtical  element,  to  which  we 
owe  our  language,  our  laws,  our  freedom,  and  our 
modem  civilization.  We  read  that  the  second  temple 
went  up  "  in  troublous  times."  The  wall  of  the  Chris- 
tian fabric  has  done  so  too.  Dreadful  and  sinful  as 
wars  are,  they  are  instruments  in  God's  hand ;  and  when 
we  hear  the  hurtle  of  arms  and  the  shriek  of  battle- 


414  ''^SE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE. 

fields,  we  may  consider  that  Jehovali  has  not  forgotten 
his  temple ;  these  sounds  are  but  the  blasts  of  his 
quarry  or  the  crash  of  cedars  in  his  forest  of  Lebanon. 
The  conquests  of  Charlemagne  and  his  successors  car- 
ried the  Gospel,  more  or  less  purely,  into  regions 
hitherto  pagan.  That  great  event  of  our  day,  as  yet 
partially  understood — ^the  revolution  in  China — ^how- 
ever it  may  result,  shows  how  easily  the  high  wall  of 
separation  might  be  broken  down  and  the  triumphant 
standards  of  Christianity  carried  in.  And  that  great 
European  conflict,  for  the  crisis  of  which  the  whole 
civihzed  world  is  now  waiting  with  breathless  expecta- 
tion, direful  as  must  be  its  proximate  effect,  will  un- 
doubtedly in  some  way  tend  to  the  upbuilding  of 
Christ's  kingdom.  "  Surely  the  wrath  of  man  shall 
praise  thee;  the  remainder  of  wrath  shalt  thou  re- 
strain." 

7.  The  Hving  temple  is  to  have  an  extension  and 
GLORY,  even  on  our  earth,  such  as  has  never  yet  been 
attained.  How  far  the  walls  have  thus  far  risen  no  man 
is  competent  to  declare.  But  the  work  is  daily  ad- 
vancing. Whatever  some  may  find  it  convenient  to 
assert,  in  favour  of  darling  hypotheses,  religion  is  in  pro- 
gress. To  go  no  further  back  than  the  beginning  of 
this  century,  which  has  been  the  era  of  Bible  and  Mis- 
sionary associations  and  triumphs,  we  see  an  undeniable 
extension  of  the  Christian  area  on  earth.  But  the 
Scripture  abounds  with  declarations  of  a  latter  day,  the 
glory  of  which  is  yet  future.    "  In  the  last  days  it  shall 


THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE.  4^5 

come  to  pass,  tliat  the  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house  shall 
be  estabhshed  in  the  top  of  the  mountains,  and  it  shall 
be  exalted  above  the  hills ;  and  people  shall  flow  unto 
it.  And  many  nations  shall  come  and  say.  Come  and 
let  us  go  up  to  the  mountain  of  the  Lord,  and  to  the 
house  of  the  God  of  Jacob."  In  a  great  edifice,  the 
later  stages  of  construction  are  those  which  most  reveal 
the  beauty  of  the  conception.  Therefore  God  addresses 
his  Church :  "  The  glory  of  Lebanon  shall  come  unto 
thee,  the  fir-tree,  the  pine-tree,  and  the  box  together, 
to  beautify  the  place  of  my  sanctuary ;  and  I  will  make 
the  place  of  my  feet  glorious""  Hasten  on,  O  blessed 
day,  when  the  resplendent  towers  of  Zion  shall  catch  the 
rising  beams  of  the  returning  Sun  of  righteousness  ! 

8.  But  let  me  not  longer  detain  you  from  the 
truth,  that  for  the  completion  of  the  living  temple  we 
must  look  to  THE  HEAVENLY  STATE.  Scripturc  mcta- 
phors  and  similitudes  must  not  be  so  pressed  as  to 
urge  a  meaning  out  of  every  particular,  nor  must  we  be 
surprised  if  the  parable  does  not  show  a  perfect  exact- 
ness in  all  its  subdivisions.  It  has  been  said  long  ago, 
that  similes  and  what  they  represent  are  often  like 
circles ;  they  touch  only  in  a  single  point.  If  therefore 
we  have  thus  far  considered  the  spiritual  house  as  going 
up  in  this  world,  we  may  by  a  shght  variation  of  the 
image  regard  it  still  more  precisely  as  attaining  its  real 
form  and  finish  in  the  world  to  come.  In  this  view,  all 
that  takes  place  here  below  is  but  the  preparation  of 
materials,  the   selection  of  the  Hvely  stones  and  the 


416  THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE. 

goodly  cedars,  the  excavation,  hewing,  felling,  squaring, 
shaping  and  polishing ;  in  expectation  of  being  trans- 
ported to  the  Jerusalem  above.  The  home  of  the 
Church  is  not  here.  Here  we  have  no  continuing  city, 
but  we  seek  one  to  come.  At  no  one  period,  even  the 
brightest  before  the  second  coming,  are  all  the  members 
of  Christ  gathered  together  in  one  place.  We  often 
think  and  speak  as  if  little  was  accomphshed,  because 
little  is  seen  on  earth.  But  we  forget  that  only  part  of 
the  living  structure  is  here,  and  this  a  small  part. 
Every  moment,  blessed  souls,  fitted  by  gracious  dis- 
cipline in  this  vale,  by  the  axe  and  hammer  and  furnace 
of  trial  and  the  moulding  hand  of  sanctification,  are 
carried  away  in  angelic  arms,  to  be  placed  in  the  house 
above.  This  is  only  the  preparatory  state.  Out  of  this 
mass  God  is  gathering  his  elect  and  taking  them  to  his 
temple.  Are  there  not  millions  already  in  heaven  ?  and 
are  there  not  more  countless  millions  yet  to  be  gathered 
thither  ?  Then,  when  the  last  redeemed  one  shall  be 
caught  up,  to  be  added  to  the  transcendent  pile,  "he 
shall  bring  forth  the  headstone  thereof  with  shoutings, 
crying,  Grace,  grace  unto  it !  "  In  the  visions  of  the 
beloved  disciple,  we  see  the  figure  swelhng  in  ampli- 
tude, and  the  house  becomes  a  city,  "  the  holy  Jerusa- 
lem, descending  out  of  heaven  from  God,  having  the 
glory  of  God,  and  her  light  like  unto  a  stone  most 
precious,  even  like  a  jasper-stone,  clear  as  crystal ;  its 
wall  having  twelve  gates,  and  at  the  gates  twelve  angels, 
and  names  written  thereon,  which  are  the  names  of  the 


THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE. 


417 


twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  every  several  gate  of  one  pearl, 
and  the  street  of  the  city  pure  gold,  as  it  were  trans- 
parent glass." 

Let  us  awake.  Christian  brethren,  to  the  reality  of  a 
spiritual  structure,  for  which  such  preparations  are 
making  around  us.  We  are  in  the  midst  of  the  labours 
which  are  to  result  in  this  great  monument  of  divine 
wisdom,  power,  and  love.  What  are  our  earthly  palaces, 
what  our  civil  and  military  marvels  of  architecture, 
what  our  toils  and  accumulations,  compared  with  this 
building  of  God,  which  is  to  outlast  the  world  ?  The 
people  of  this  world,  we  know,  are  absolutely  indifferent 
to  the  temple  which  is  rising.  They  sneer  at  it  as  the 
antediluvians  treated  the  ark ;  they  are  ignorant  of  it,  as 
were  the  Tyrians  and  Zidonians  of  the  first  temple,  even 
while  unwittingly  they  aided  it ;  or  they  oppose  it,  as 
the  Samaritans  did  the  second  temple.  Nevertheless, 
the  foundation  of  God  standeth  sure,  having  this  seal, 
the  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  his.  If  the  house  is 
rejected,  so  was  its  corner-stone.  Still  it  is  ascend- 
ing, and  God's  purposes  are  working  themselves  out. 
There  is  nothing  which  we  can  do  in  life  so  important 
as  to  contribute  in  some  humble  measure  to  the  up- 
building of  the  Church.  It  is  the  only  work  of  which 
the  fruit  cannot  be  lost.  One  soul,  saved  by  our  means, 
is  a  living  stone  added  to  the  edifice.  One  soul  made 
hoHer  and  better  through  our  labours,  is  a  new  orna- 
ment to  the  unseen  sanctuary.  Not  a  toil,  a  self-denial, 
or  a  tear,  shaU  fail  of  recognition ;  though  lost  to  the 
27 


418  THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE. 

view  of  men,  "  the  day  will  reveal  it."  Open  the  eye 
of  faith  and  behold  God's  great  work  of  regeneration 
and  salvation,  which  proceeds  incessantly  and  success- 
fully. The  question  is  a  solemn  one :  Am  I  in  this 
temple  or  out  of  it?  There  is  no  middle  ground. 
Have  I  come  to  Christ,  the  chosen  precious  comer- 
stone  ?  Am  I  builded  upon  his  truth,  his  righteous- 
ness, his  person  ?  Am  I  in  union  and  communion  with 
that  multitude  of  saints,  who,  as  lively  stones,  are  knit 
together  indissolubly  in  this  subHme  and  increasing 
structure?  Have  I  any  good  hope,  through  grace, 
that  I  shall  be  among  the  constituents  of  the  heavenly 
city?  The  answer  is  important  now;  but  the  day  is 
coming,  when  the  answer  shall  be  one  of  doom !  If 
yea,  lift  up  your  head,  and  bid  farewell  to  every  anxious 
thought  about  inferior  things.  What  are  the  loss  or 
gain,  the  pain  or  joy,  of  threescore  years  and  ten,  when 
you  look  towards  the  things  which  are  not  seen,  which 
are  eternal !  But  if  the  answer  be  nay,  pause  this  in- 
stant. All  is  at  stake.  Remaining  thus  without,  all  is 
lost,  and  forever.  That  headstone,  however  precious  to 
them  that  beheve,  is  no  comer-stone  to  you ;  but  "  a 
stone  of  stumbling,  and  a  rock  of  offence."  "For 
whosoever  falleth  on  this  stone,  shall  be  broken."  Are 
we  in  our  senses?  Have  men  ever  heard  of  their 
danger  and  their  way  of  escape,  that  all  should  lie  in 
so  profound  an  apathy?  God's  temple  will  still  be 
complete  and  glorious,  though  you  should  form  no 
part  of  it.     Much  that  seems  (by  church  profession)  to 


THE  CHURCH  A  TEMPLE.  4^9 

belong  to  the  structure,  is  only  an  appendage  or  a 
seeming — "  wood,  hay,  stubble."  "  The  day  shall  declare 
it,  for  it  shall  be  revealed  by  fire ;  and  the  fire  shall  try 
every  man's  work  of  what  sort  it  is."  And  some  who 
escape  shall  "  hardly  be  saved,"  yea,  "  saved,  so  as 
by  fire."  May  God  own  us,  beloved,  in  that  day! 
Amen. 


XIX. 


STEENGTH    IN    CHRIST 


STRENGTH  IN  CHRIST  * 


Philippians  iv.  13. 
"  I  can  do  all  things  throngli  Christ  which  strengtheneth  me." 

When  we  consider  that,  next  to  that  of  the  Lord 
himself,  no  biography  of  the  New  Testament  is  so  fully 
given  as  that  of  the  Apostle  who  uttered  these  words, 
we  are  led  to  infer  that  his  life  and  character  were 
meant  to  be  closely  studied,  as  affording  the  aid  of  ex- 
ample and  incitement  in  the  ordinary  course  of  Christian 
duty.  The  variety  of  circumstances  in  which  he  is  pre- 
sented is  remarkable,  and  gives  occasion  for  the  disclo- 
sure of  every  holy  sentiment  which  belongs  to  the  re- 
newed nature,  in  its  noblest  and  freest  development. 
In  his  sorrows  and  his  joys,  his  activity  and  his 
restraints,  we  see  in  Paul  the  moving  power  of  an 
*  New  York,  New  Tear's  Day,  1855. 


424  STRENGTH  IN  CHRIST. 

inward  principle,  whicli  overturned  and  renewed  his 
whole  being.  Perhaps  it  is  not  going  too  far  to  say, 
that  no  mere  man  ever  lived  who  has  operated  so  exten- 
sively upon  Christians  in  succeeding  ages,  in  the  way  of. 
example.  Through  him,  though  compassed  about  with 
infirmities,  God  seems  to  have  chosen  to  show  how  true 
grace  will  work  in  a  great  diversity  of  conditions.  In 
the  Epistle  now  open  before  us,  he  is  in  those  straits 
which  sometimes  make  Christian  equanimity  difficult  in 
our  lower  degrees  of  rehgious  growth.  But  the  maxim 
whereby  he  supports  himself  is  one  suited  to  a  more 
general  apphcation,  and  suited  like  all  high  comprehen- 
sive truths  to  every  state.  The  kind  gift  of  his  Philip- 
pian  brethren  had  led  him  to  touch  delicately  on  his 
necessities ;  but  he  checks  himself :  "  Not  that  I  speak 
in  respect  of  want ;  for  I  have  learned  (rare  lesson)  in 
whatsoever  state  I  am,  therewith  to  be  content.  (Gen- 
tile philosophy  attempted  the  same  result,  but  without 
success,  for  want  of  the  principle  which  we  are  about 
to  consider.)  I  know  both  how  to  be  abased,  and  how 
to  abound,  (both  difficult  cases ;  for  some  have  fallen  by 
prosperity,  whom  Satan  has  vainly  assaulted  while 
poor.)  Everywhere  and  in  all  things  I  am  instructed 
(or,  more  exactly,  I  am  initiated  as  into  a  mystery)  both 
to  be  full  and  to  be  hungry,  both  to  abound  and  to 
suffer  need.  I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ,  which 
strengtheneth  me.'' 

Can  there  be  presented  a  more  appropriate  senti- 
ment for  the  year,  or  for  every  year  ? 


STRENGTH  IN  CHRIST.  425 

tyPhere  is,  then,  a  strengtli  in  Christ,  which  so  be- 
comes the  strength  of  the  behever,  that  trusting  in  his 
Lord  he  may  be  equal  to  every  demand  of  suffering  or 
performance/  Such  is  the  proposition  which  I  would 
unfold  before  you. 

You  will  observe  in  the  very  expression  an  avowal 
of  weakness.  It  is  unlike  the  vaunting  of  Stoics  and 
other  sages,  who,  arrogant  in  their  own  resolved  virtue, 
stood  up  to  cope  with  every  opponent  that  should 
affi-ont  them.  Men  of  this  temper  abound,  and  their 
language  is  lofty.  They  are  in  armour  of  proof,  and 
are  mighty  of  will.  Their  nerve,  resolution  and  purpose 
are  not  to  be  thwarted  by  any  difficulty.  The  pride  of 
a  heroic  morahty  holds  them  up.  But  he  that  trusteth 
in  his  own  heart  is  a  fool.  And  we  have  seen  battle- 
fields strewed  with  the  fallen,  who  have  gone  to  the 
encounter  of  temptation  without  the  aid  of  heaven. 
Such  a  champion,  haughty  and  self-rehant,  the  youthful 
Saul  had  been,  when  his  Pharisaic  decision  sustained 
itself  against  the  angehc  countenance  of  Stephen  and 
the  gentle  power  of  Christ.  But  he  had  been  lowered 
in  his  tone,  that  he  might  be  exalted,  and  softened  that 
he  might  become  enduring.  He  had  been  brought  into 
a  conflict,  in  which  he  was  fain  to  cry,  "  I  know  that 
in  me,  that  is  in  my  flesh,  dwelleth  no  good  thiag ;  for 
to  will  is  present  with  me,  but  how  to  perform  that 
which  is  good  I  find  not."  In  the  desperation  of  this 
ordeal,  he  had  burst  forth,  "  O  wretched  man  that  I 
am  1  who  shall  dehver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ?  " 


426  STRENGTH  m  CHRIST. 

and  rising  to  life,  as  he  beheld  his  dehverer,  had  sub- 
joined, "  I  thank  God,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord/' 
It  was  Christ,  who  was  his  strength ;  and  in  this  per- 
fect and  communicable  strength,  he  could  do  all  things. 
Christ  strengthened  him ;  and  Christ  stands  ready  to 
strengthen  the  believer  in  our  day. 

Here  as  everywhere  in  the  survey  of  experience,  we 
are  made  to  recognise  the  beautiful  coherence  of  all 
divine  truth,  and  to  perceive  how  an  inward  sentiment 
of  great  value  is  based  upon  a  solid  doctrine  of  the 
system.  The  doctrine  which  acts  as  pedestal  to  the 
column,  is  that  of  ChristV  union  as  head  with  the  be- 
hever.  "  The  head  of  every  man  is  Christ."  Never 
was  this  precious  doctrine  more  nobly  unfolded  or  more 
urgently  pressed,  than  in  the  writings  of  Paul  himself. 
The  acts  of  the  Redeemer  are  for  the  redeemed.  He 
took  their  nature,  assumed  their  liabilities,  answered  for 
their  dehnquency,  procured  their  pardon,  accomplished 
their  justification,  and  abides  in  connexion  with  them, 
for  all  the  manifold  ends  of  their  salvation.  For  them 
he  was  born,  for  them  he  lived,  for  them  he  died,  for 
them  he  rose,  for  them  he  ascended,  for  them  he  inter- 
cedes and  reigns.  He  is  made  to  each  of  them.  Wis- 
dom, Righteousness,  Sanctification  and  Redemption. 
The  funded  treasury  of  his  merits,  his  wisdom  and  his 
might,  are  theirs.  If  he  is  strong — and  "  Thou  Lord 
in  the  beginning  hast  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth, 
and  the  heavens  are  the  work  of  thine  hands  " — it  is  a 
strength  available  for  the  very  meanest  of  all  his  saints. 


STRENGTH  IN  CHRIST.  427 

Observe  how  Paul,  after  saying.  Col.  ii.  9,  "  In  him 
dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  godhead  bodily,"  imme- 
diately adds,  "  And  ye  are  complete  in  him,  which  is 
the  Head  of  all  principality  and  power."  There  is, 
from  those  celestial  and  unseen  fountains,  a  perpetual 
flow  downwards  to  our  world,  where  the  heirs  of  the 
kingdom,  amidst  a  thousand  weaknesses,  are  struggling 
along  towards  the  purchased  possession.  Of  these, 
many  a  one,  contemplating  this  reserve  of  power  and 
deposit  of  wealth,  has  forgotten  his  thorn  and  the  buf- 
feting of  Satan,  and  has  exulted,  "  Most  gladly,  there- 
fore, will  I  rather  glory  in  my  infirmities,  that  the  power 
of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me ;  therefore  I  take  pleasure 
in  infirmities,  in  reproaches,  in  necessities,  in  persecu- 
tions, in  distresses,  for  Christ's  sake ;  for  when  I  am 
weak,  then  am  I  strong."  Here,  then,  is  the  confession 
of  weakness,  but  here  also  is  the  avowal  of  strength. 
And  surely,  O  Christians,  it  is  worth  your  inquiry,  how 
you  may  find  tliis  strength  and  exercise  this  confidence, 
in  those  various  conditions  which  await  you  in  the  re- 
mainder of  life. 

1.  And  here  it  seems  most  natural  to  make  our  be- 
ginning with  the  particular  trial  which  drew  these  words 
from  our  apostle.  It  was  that  of  poverty,  or  worldly 
embarrassment,  which  in  every  age  has  been  the  lot  of 
the  majority  of  mankind,  and  especially  the  majority  of 
Christians.  The  fact  that  rehgion  has  wrought  its 
chief  wonders  among  the  humble,  and  that  God  has 
chosen  the  poor  of  this  world,  "  rich  in  faith,"  is  too 


428  STKENGTH  IN  CHRIST. 

clear  to  be  questioned ;  but  tbe  reasons  of  the  fact  may 
not  be  so  apparent.  Among  them  may  be  these ;  first, 
that  the  infinite  benevolence  of  God  stoops  with  its 
comforts  and  supports  to  those  who  are  most  sunken, 
who  suffer  the  greatest  ills,  and  who  are  despised  by 
the  luxurious  and  magnificent.  Therefore  into  ten 
thousand  cottages  and  even  hovels,  the  blessed  Jesus, 
who  was  himself  a  poor  man,  has  entered,  to  convey  the 
"  durable  riches  "  of  grace.  And  then,  the  humbling 
influence  of  penury  and  want,  scanty  fare  which  keeps 
daily  fast,  and  sadness  which  ensures  nightly  vigils,  the 
hardships  of  aching  limbs,  nakedness,  uncertain  lodging, 
wailing  children,  contempt  of  the  lofty  and  oppression 
of  the  strong — ^this  humbhng  disciphne — ^fits  the  soul 
of  man  for  that  message  which  passes  unheeded  by  the 
mansions  of  ease  and  self-importance.  However  it  may 
be  accounted  for,  the  people  of  God,  in  the  best  periods 
of  the  Church,  have  often  found  themselves  in  a  situa- 
tion of  straitened  means.  Moreover,  the  sohcitude 
and  fear  of  the  heart  may  vex  those  who  are  far  above 
the  condition  of  degraded  indigence  or  open  men- 
dicity. Clouds  may  overhang  the  morrow  of  the  indus- 
trious father,  the  pallid  widow,  or  the  lonely  rehct  of 
a  once,  prosperous  house;  when  channels  run  low,  re- 
sources fail,  as  the  barrel  and  the  cruse  seem  near 
exhaustion.  Times  of  commercial  depression  some- 
times bring  compulsory  retrenchment  into  hundreds  of 
Christian  families  at  once.  And  poverty,  my  brethren, 
even  in  this  wider  sense,  is  a  trial  which  it  is  hard  to 


STRENGTH  IN  CHRIST.  429 

bear.  Dependence  is  a  yoke  that  galls  the  delicate 
sensibihty.  The  heart  of  a  good  man  may  faint  for  a 
moment  under  the  unexpected  load.  You,  who  never 
knew  a  day  of  hunger  or  shuddered  at  the  knock  of 
an  obdurate  creditor,  would  find  your  resolution  brought 
to  a  rude  test,  if  suddenly  your  household  state  should 
be  reduced  to  the  standard  of  the  poor.  The  very  ap- 
prehension of  a  reverse,  so  depressing  and  yet  so  com- 
mon, brings  the  servant  of  God  to  the  point  of  weak- 
ness ;  and  after  his  first  agitation,  he  proceeds  to  take 
account  of  his  spiritual  stock.  How  is  it  with  the  bank 
of  faith  ?  What  hold  is  there  on  the  treasure  in  heaven  ? 
Many  a  one,  blessed  be  God,  has  been  able  to  reply,  in 
the  terms  of  the  Old  Testament, "  Although  the  fig-tree 
shall  not  blossom,  neither  shall  fruit  be  in  the  vines ; 
the  labour  of  the  ohve  shall  fail,  and  the  fields  shall 
yield  no  meat ;  the  flock  shall  be  cut  off  from  the  fold, 
and  there  shall  be  no  herd  in  the  stalls  ;  yet  will  I  re- 
joice in  Jehovah,  I  wiU  joy  in  the  God  of  my  salvation." 
THE  LORD  GOD  IS  MY  STRENGTH.  Ycs,  the  Ncw  Tes- 
tament behever,  seeing  more  clearly,  will  more  tri- 
umphantly add,  the  Lord  Jesus  is  my  strength ;  'I  can 
do  all  things  through  Christ  which  strengtheneth  me. 
I  can  be  abased  and  can  abound ;  I  can  be  fuU  and  be 
happy.  I  have  that  part  which  cannot  be  taken  away, 
bags  that  wax  not  old,  investments  that  cannot  be  de- 
preciated. My  security  is  eternal  in  the  heavens.  My 
treasure  and  my  heart  are  above.  Having  Christ,  I  have 
all  things.   Without  him  the  wealth  of  kingdoms  would 


430  STRENGTH  IN  CHRIST. 

but  sink  me  to  ruin ;  with  him,  I  can  be  content  upon  a 
crust.  My  soul  is  strengthened  to  peace  and  acquies- 
cence. He  to  whom  I  have  committed  the  greater,  \\dll 
be  surety  for  the  less.  "  Is  not  the  life  more  than  meat, 
and  the  body  than  raiment  ?  "  I  am  firm  in  the  persua- 
sion that  my  Lord  and  Master,  who  has  my  love,  wUl 
never  aUow  me  to  sink  under  cares  of  this  hfe.  Thus 
the  power  of  Christ  is  glorified  in  the  experience  of  many 
a  straitened  but  contented  soul. 

2.  This  case,  then,  of  temporal  necessity  was  that 
which  drew  out  the  beheving  and  exultant  affirmation 
of  Paul.  But  the  source  of  power  and  solace  and 
assurance,  is  equally  full  for  every  instance  of  worldly 
solicitude.  Let  us  look  at  one  of  the  most  familiar. 
As  we  are  year  by  year  journeying  towards  the  certain 
termination  of  our  course,  in  death,  so  we  may  be  said 
to  be  dying  daily.  Each  New  Year's  day  marks  an- 
other approach  to  dissolution.  Even  under  the  roses 
of  health,  the  worm  is  at  its  fatal  work.  In  some,  the 
S3rmptoms  of  mortality  are  striking  and  undeniable. 
To  themselves  and  others,  they  appear  as  frail,  decaying 
creatures.  Sometimes  there  are  vehement  shocks  of 
acute  malady,  which  foreshadow  the  taking  down  of  the 
shattered  tent.  Sometimes  there  is  a  train  of  weak- 
nesses, aches,  and  despondencies,  which  keep  the  sum- 
mons forever  at  the  door.  In  such  as  attain  old  age, 
that  period  is  but  a  long,  incurable  disease.  Nothing 
more  convicts  man  of  his  feebleness,  than  bodily  dis- 
temper.   A  few  nights  of  rolUng  and  tossing  in  the  sea 


STRENGTH  IN  CHRIST.  432 

of  pain,  suffice  to  bring  robust  and  stalwart  health 
into  puling  infirmity.  We  do  not  find  that  earthly  re- 
sources avail  much  in  this  contest.  The  blow  that  first 
strikes  the  body,  presently  lacerates  the  mind.  "  The 
spirit  of  a  man  will  sustain  his  infirmity,  but  a  wounded 
spirit  who  can  bear  ?  "  Here,  then,  just  where  nature 
surrenders,  is  the  point  where  grace  triumphs.  Such 
strength  is  given  in  every  age  of  the  church,  every 
day,  yea,  this  very  moment.  Take  the  extreme  case, 
where  death  is  certain  and  near.  The  Lord  Jesus  has 
not  withdrawn  his  helpful  arm.  Nay,  some  of  his 
chiefest  condescensions  are  vouchsafed  to  those  who 
have  "  the  sentence  of  death  "  in  themselves,  that  they 
should  not  trust  in  themselves,  "but  in  God  which 
raiseth  the  dead."  Our  benign  Redeemer  loves  to  hold 
up  the  sinking  head  of  one  whom  he  is  about  to  release 
forever.  "  He  giveth  power  to  the  faint :  and  to  them 
that  have  no  might  he  increaseth  strength."  In  pro- 
portion as  the  promise  of  worldly  good  is  abohshed,  the 
faithful  soul  grows  mighty  in  the  certainty  and  nearness 
of  heavenly  good ;  pledged  to  hun  in  that  divine  Head, 
who  bare  our  sicknesses  and  carried  our  sorrows,  and 
who  can  be  touched  with  a  feeling  of  our  infirmities. 
Nor  dare  I  confine  the  enjoyment  of  Christ's  strength 
to  these  particular  classes  of  trial.  Poverty  and  illness 
are,  after  all,  not  the  most  bitter  and  weakening  of  hu- 
man woes.  There  are  secret  troubles,  gaping  wounds 
of  the  spirit,  mortifications,  disappointments  and  griefs, 
which  are  aU  the  more  fitted  to  cast  down  and  to  unman, 


432  STRENGTH  IN  CHRIST. 

when  they  cannot  be  revealed  to  the  eye  of  vulgar  exam- 
ination, or  ask  the  lips  of  forward  condolence.  What- 
ever the  heart  sinks  under,  causes  a  necessity  for  Christ's 
aid ;  and  there  it  is  !  Amidst  aU  the  consciousness  of 
sin,  he  who  has  entrusted  his  all  to  the  freeness  of  the 
covenant,  can  be  strong  in  the  Lord  and  in  the  power 
of  his  might.  "  God  is  our  refage  and  strength,  a  very 
present  help  in  trouble;  therefore  will  not  we  fear, 
though  the  earth  be  removed,  and  though  the  moun- 
tains be  carried  into  the  midst  of  the  sea."  It  is  not 
the  sufferer,  it  is  the  Saviour  who  is  strong.  "  Their 
Redeemer  is  mighty  ;  the  Lord  of  hosts  is  his  name." 
The  cordial  is  suited  to  every  case.  The  year  can  bring 
no  exigency  which  the  strength  laid  up  in  Christ  shall 
not  meet.  Make  it  yours,  beloved  hearer;  and  let 
God's  invitation  resound  in  your  heart,  "  For  I  the  Lord 
thy  God  will  hold  thy  right  hand,  saying  unto  thee. 
Fear  not,  I  will  help  thee."   Isa.  xh.  13. 

3.  From  temporal,  let  us  go  to  spiritual  troubles. 
There  is  a  great  conflict  with  sin,  in  which  we  need 
divine  strength.  Woe  be  unto  us,  if  Christ  does  not 
help  us  here.  It  is  a  conflict  in  which  every  one  of  us 
will  be  engaged,  either  to  conquer  or  be  conquered.  If 
Paul  could  rise  and  testify,  he  would  declare  that  all  his 
other  contentions,  not  excepting  his  fighting  with  beasts 
at  Ephesus,  were  nothmg  to  this;  and  all  true  Chris- 
tians have  had  a  similar  experience.  The  more  ad- 
vanced we  are  in  holiness,  the  more  shall  we  regard 
other  trials,  such  as  affect  the  body,  or  the  property,  or 


STRENGTH  IX  CHRIST.  433 

the  reputation,  as  not  worthy  to  be  named  along  with 
those  which  endanger  the  conscience.  The  greatest 
enemy  we  can  possibly  have,  is  he  who  makes  us  sin. 
The  father  of  Hes,  who  was  a  murderer  from  the  begin- 
ning, has  made  his  grand  effort  just  here.  His  per- 
petual endeavour  is  to  beguile  or  terrify  the  Christian 
into  sin.  He  had  the  effrontery  and  diabolical  madness 
to  make  an  experiment  with  the  Apostle  and  High 
Priest  of  our  profession,  in  a  threefold  temptation.  But 
the  god  of  this  world  found  that  he  had  nothing  in 
Jesus ;  no  tinder  in  that  bosom  upon  which  his  hellish 
sparks  could  kindle.  His  hopes  are  greater  in  tempt- 
ing poor,  fallen,  partially  sanctified  humanity.  Great 
ai*e  his  successes  for  a  time.  If  you  call  those  Chris- 
tians who  have  made  high  professions,  he  has  caused 
thousands  of  Christians  to  fall ;  and  he  has  humbled  in 
the  dust  many  of  the  real  brotherhood,  w^hen,  like  David 
and  Simon  Peter,  they  have  yielded  themselves  to  his 
attacks.  This  invisible  warfare  is  more  fearful  than  the 
deadhest  charge  upon  columns  of  a  superior  human  foe. 
"  For  we  wrestle  not  against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against 
principalities,  against  powers,  against  the  rulers  of  the 
darkness  of  this  world,  against  spiritual  wickedness  in 
high  places."  The  odds  are  fearful,  if  you  look  at  your 
own  native  strength.  I  apprehend  that  the  reason  why 
some  are  not  startled  by  this  prospect,  is,  that  they  have 
more  fear  of  suffering  than  of  sinning ;  or  perhaps  they 
cherish  a  secret  scepticism  as  to  their  own  weakness. 
Either  of  these  errors  is  fatal  to  progress  in  rehgion. 
28 


434  STRENGTH  IN  CHRIST. 

There  is  that  before  each  of  us,  in  the  way  of  conflict 
and  temptation,  which  mil  not  only  bring  all  our  powers 
to  the  test,  but  will  leave  us  defeated  and  utterly  ruined, 
unless  we  have  some  strength  greater  than  our  own. 
And  if  we  truly  value  holy  obedience,  we  shall  dehght 
in  the  assurance  that  this  battle  is  not  to  be  fought  by 
us  alone.  What  wiU  not  the  soldier  dare,  who  is  led  by 
a  brave  and  invincible  commander?  Such  is  ours. 
"  Through  God  we  shall  do  valiantly ;  for  he  it  is  that 
shall  tread  down  our  enemies."  Ps.  Ix.  12.  Not  only 
have  we  Christ  as  a  leader,  but  as  the  very  source  of 
our  strength  against  sin,  by  our  union  with  him,  and 
the  consequent  effluence  from  Him  to  us  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  source  of  all  Hght,  purity  and  strength.  It 
is  belief  of  this,  and  trust  in  the  covenant  terms,  which 
authorize  the  disciple  to  say,  "  I  can  do  all  things, 
through  Christ  which  strengtheneth  me."  I  can  stand 
up  in  a  struggle  which  would  prostrate  me  in  a  moment, 
if  my  own  power  was  all.  This  is  the  victory  that 
overcometh  the  world,  even  our  faith.  I  can  pass  un- 
hm-t  through  temptations  also,  for  no  temptation  shall 
befall  me  but  that  which  is  common  to  man;  and  in 
Christ's  name  I  will  steadfastly  resist  the  roaring  Hon, 
knowing  that  the  same  afflictions  are  accomplished  in 
my  brethren  that  are  in  the  world.  Christ's  strength 
win  be  mine  in  the  moment  of  sore  trial. 

4.  It  remains  to  say  something  about  an  obvious 
application  of  the  words  before  us  to  the  case  of  ex- 
pected labours  for  God.      In  this  we  include   every 


STRENGTH  IN  CHRIST.  435 

tiling  which  falls  under  the  denomination  of  active 
obedience.  For  work,  there  must  be  strength.  Por 
Christian  work,  there  must  be  spiritual  strength.  This 
does  not  exist  in  us  by  nature ;  nor  even  by  grace  and 
after  renewal  does  it  so  exist,  as  to  be  a  permanent 
stock,  upon  which  we  can  draw,  as  something  of  our 
OTMi.  It  is  the  plan  of  God  that  his  redeemed  people 
should  feel  their  dependence  at  every  step.  They  are 
not  sufficient  of  themselves  to  think  any  thing  as  of 
themselves,  but  aU  their  sufficiency  is  of  God.  This  is 
true  of  the  ordinary  course  of  Christian  performance. 
Every  well-instructed  disciple  has  discovered  that  he 
cannot  walk  for  a  single  hour  without  the  sustentation 
of  the  Divine  arm.  Those  moments  in  which  we  are 
left  a  little  to  our  own  resources,  are  moments  of  dark- 
ness and  grief,  if  not  of  disgrace  and  discomfiture. 
Satan  desires  to  have  us,  that  he  may  sift  us  as  wheat, 
but  Christ  prays  for  us  and  succours  us.  He  leads 
the  safest,  truest,  happiest  life,  who  most  consciously 
leans  upon  the  strength  of  the  Redeemer,  and  takes 
each  several  step  of  the  way,  with  his  eye  fixed  on  the 
Author  and  Finisher  of  his  faith. 

But  if  this  is  true  of  those  labours  which  are  ordi- 
nary, much  more  strikingly  true  is  it  of  such  as  are 
extraordinary.  Special  demands  of  service  are  some- 
times made.  This  is  true  in  all  branches  of  important 
worldly  trust.  Pride  or  temerity  might  smile  at  the 
grave  view  which  an  humble  behever  takes  of  new  pe- 
riods of  fife,  new  relations,  new  circumstances,  new 


436  STRENGTH  IN  CHRIST. 

calling  and  office.  He  shrinks  from  what  is  laid  upon 
him.  As  Moses  :  "  Who  am  I,  that  I  should  go  unto 
Pharaoh  ?  "  As  Obadiah  :  "  And  now  thou  sayest. 
Go,  tell  thy  lord,  Behold  Elijah  is  here ;  and  he  shall 
slay  me."  As  Isaiah :  "  Woe  is  me,  for  I  am  undone." 
As  Jeremiah ;  "  Ah,  Lord  God !  behold  I  cannot  speak : 
for  I  am  a  child."  As  Ananias  :  "  Lord,  I  have  heard 
by  many  of  this  man,  how  much  evil  he  hath  done  to 
thy  saints  at  Jerusalem."  When  weakness  is  joined 
with  unbelief,  prospective  labours  are  appaUing.  If  we 
could  enter  into  the  secret  experience  of  those  Chtistian 
heroes  who  have  achieved  the  greatest  wonders  for  God, 
we  should  probably  find  that  their  mighty  acts  were 
not  performed  without  some  foregoing  trepidation  and 
sense  of  incompetency.  Jacob  weeps  and  wrestles  be- 
fore he  is  named  a  prince  of  God.  The  astonishing 
valour  of  Paul  was  a  fruit  of  grace ;  and  who  knows  how 
often  the  day  of  courage  and  endurance  may  have  fol- 
lowed a  night  of  agony  ?  It  is  not  only  common,  but 
it  is  good,  to  feel  ourselves  very  weak  in  divine  things. 
Then  it  is  that  we  take  hold  of  strength.  Amidst 
floods  of  apprehension,  the  Psalmist  cries :  "  When  my 
heart  is  overwhelmed  within  me,  lead  me  to  the  Rock 
that  is  higher  than  I ! "  Then  when  the  self-distrust- 
ing one  beholds  the  countenance  of  heavenly  friendship 
turned  full  upon  him,  he  knows  on  what  to  depend, 
and  sings,  "  I  can  do  all  things,  through  Christ  which 
strengtheneth  me." 

The  careful  examination  of  the  text  will  show  you 


STRENGTH  IN  CHRIST.  437 

that  it  contains  more  than  an  acknowledgment  of  weak- 
ness ;  more  than  a  persuasion  that  there  is  strength  in 
another ;  it  expresses  the  fixed  purpose  to  go  forward  in 
duty,  relying  on  Christ.  It  not  only  says,  In  myself  I 
can  do  nothing,  but  In  Christ  I  can  do  all  things.  And 
this  is  the  very  point  of  faith,  to  which  we  need  to  be 
brought ;  nor,  till  we  are  brought  thither,  shall  we  ever 
accomplish  any  high  achievement  in  Christianity.  We 
must  feel  that  there  is  solid  ground  under  our  feet,  be- 
fore we  can  march  confidently  onward.  This  imwaver- 
ing  belief  of  the  treasure  laid  up  for  us  in  Christ,  is  faith. 
It  runs  forward  beyond  the  scope  of  sight ;  beyond  all 
that  has  been  traversed  by  actual  experience.  It  takes 
God  at  his  word,  and  rests  on  his  assurance.  Believing 
that  he  wiU  call  to  no  labours  for  which  he  does  not  fur- 
nish strength,  it  attempts  much,  and  trusts  mightily 
while  attempting.  The  Christian,  under  these  exercises 
of  mind,  does  not  put  off  the  beginning  of  performance 
until  the  moment  when  he  shall  be  sensible  of  Divine 
aid  flowing  in  upon  his  soul,  but  puts  forth  endeavours 
now,  in  the  assurance  that  consciousness  of  strength 
will  accompany  sincere  effort.  It  is  the  only  principle 
upon  which  rational  obedience  can  be  rendered.  For  if 
we  never  undertake  a  duty  until  all  inward  difficulties 
be  removed,  we  only  act  over  the  part  of  him  in  Greek 
fable,  who  deferred  crossing  the  river  till  all  its  waves 
should  flow  by.  No  ;  true  courage  and  holy  resolution 
will  rather  look  the  obstacle  in  the  face,  saying  of  it, 
even  when  most  insuperable  to  the  eye  of  nature :  "  I 


438  STRENGTH  IN  CHRIST. 

can  do  all  things,  through  Christ  which  strengtheneth 
me." 

And  now,  with  the  year  before  us,  have  we  not,  my 
Christian  brethren,  a  watchword,  with  which  to  be  dili- 
gent and  undaunted  for  God?  The  ancient  com- 
manders used  to  cheer  their  soldiers  on  the  eve  of  bat- 
tle, by  assurances  that  some  of  their  favourite  deities 
were  descending  to  fight  in  the  ranks ;  and  the  false- 
hood added  vigour  to  their  hearts  and  nerve  to  their 
arms.  But  in  our  soldiership  we  have  the  blessed  truth 
to  stimulate  us,  that  the  Captain  of  our  salvation  goes 
before  us.  Come  prosperity  or  come  pain,  come  wealth 
or  bereavement,  come  health  or  sickness,  come  tempta- 
tion or  labour — ^if  Christ  be  with  us,  aU  shall  be  well ! 
And  with  us  he  is,  and  will  be,  if  we  are  his  people, 
and  if  his  promise  is  true.  We  greatly  err  by  making 
a  sort  of  merit  of  our  misgivings,  and  groaning  over  our 
weakness,  as  if  this  were  pleasing  to  God ;  when,  indeed, 
a  high  aspiring  faith  and  unwavering  confidence  in 
God's  aid  for  the  future,  is  more  welcome  to  him,  and 
unspeakably  more  productive  of  obedience  in  us.  If 
you  have  no  satisfactory  persuasion  that  the  transform- 
ing work  of  grace  has  passed  upon  your  souls,  you 
have  a  great  previous  question  to  settle,  and  I  implore 
you  not  to  adjourn  it.  But  if  you  have  believed,  you 
may  make  the  words  of  the  text  your  own,  in  prospect 
of  the  year.  And  O  that,  together,  and  as  with  one 
accord,  we  might  go  forward  with  these  words  blazoned 
on  our  shields  !     When  the  Lord  Jesus  was  about  to 


STRENGTH  IS  CHRIST.  439 

ascend  to  heaven,  lie  gave  a  solemn  commission  to  Ms 
original  apostles,  in  whicli  he  assigned  to  them  their 
work.  But  the  commission  was  prefaced  by  these 
words  :  "  All  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  in 
earth."  It  is  this  mediatorial  power  of  the  Lord  our 
Master,  this  communicated  power,  resting  in  the  Head, 
to  which  we  as  his  members  are  privileged  to  resort. 
That  strength  is  ours,  if  we  lay  hold  of  it  by  faith ; 
which  shows  us  again,  what  we  are  continually  learn- 
ing both  in  the  Word  and  in  experience,  the  value  and 
necessity  of  faith ;  not  only  for  first  receiving  Christ, 
but  for  walking  in  him.  Just  so  much  fortitude  in 
affliction  and  courage  in  action  have  we,  as  we  have 
faith.  What  we  want  for  the  year  is  more  faith.  The 
circumstances  of  some  now  present  may  .be  greatly  and 
unexpectedly  changed  during  the  year.  No  preacher, 
no  friend,  no  father,  could  expound  to  you  the  particular 
exigencies  of  the  near  future  ;  and  when  the  trial  comes, 
you  will  feel  that  it  is  novel,  and  unlike  aU  you  have 
known  before.  'For  such  junctures  you  cannot  make 
special  or  detailed  preparation.  But  here  is  a  preparation 
which  is  sovereign,  and  universally  applicable.  Believe 
in  the  Lord  Jesus,  cast  yourself  on  his  arm,  and  appro- 
priate his  strength.  Then,  though  it  should  be  your 
lot  to  go  down  into  the  swellings  of  Jordan,  you  shall 
not  be  taken  unawares.  One  of  the  most  illustrious 
and  triumphant  deathbeds  at  which  I  have  ever  been 
summoned  to  minister,  was  that  of  a  lovely  Christian 
woman,  of  refined  sensibility  and   timid   disposition, 


440  STRENGTH  IN  CHRIST. 

who  was  suddenly  smitten  down  in  a  strange  city,  on  a 
journey  far  from  friends,  and  out  of  the  midst  of  appa- 
rently perfect  health.  And  yet  Christ  was  her  strength 
and  joy,  and  became  her  salvation ;  so  that  even  the 
alarm  of  this  strange  surprise  was  wholly  taken  away 
from  her. 

In  the  history  of  the  Church  we  meet  with  some 
striking  instances  of  persons  who  have  done  extraordi- 
nary service,  and  had  uncommon  success,  whose  names 
are  remembered  with  benediction,  even  in  nations  far 
asunder  and  for  successive  ages.  These  are  the  men  of 
faith.  They  had  learnt  the  secret  of  power.  They 
dared  much  and  endeavoured  much,  because  they  were 
backed  and  sustained  by  Christ's  strength,  which  they 
acted  on,  and  about  which  they  had  no  misgivings.  If 
you  desKc  to  be  more  useful  than  you  have  ever  been, 
go  to  the  field,  as  David  against  the  Philistine,  with  a 
steady  belief  that  your  Lord  will  pour  in  the  strength 
as  certainly  as  you  put  forth  the  effort.  Happy  indeed 
will  the  New  Year  be  to  you,  if  you  set  about  its  tasks 
in  this  temper.  Does  the  sinking  of  conscious  weak- 
ness unnerve  and  subdue  you  ?  Turn  yourself  wholly 
over  upon  the  Everlasting  Arm.  For  some  of  you, 
beloved  hearers,  I  have  had  and  still  have,  pecuUar 
anxieties  for  the  changes  which  this  very  year  may 
bring  about.  I  have  lived  long  enough  to  know,  that 
great  revolutions  of  mind  and  heart  may  be  effected  in 
a  very  brief  period.  "  But  I  fear,  lest  by  any  means, 
as  the  serpent  beguiled  Eve  through  his  subtilty,  so 


STRENGTH  IX  CHRIST.  44]^ 

your  minds  should  be  corrupted  from  the  simplicity 
that  is  in  Christ."  However  unlikely  it  may  seem  to 
you  now — nay,  however  abhorrent  it  may  be  from  all 
your  present  feehngs — a  few  months  or  even  weeks,  un- 
der new  influences,  may  suffice  to  carry  you  down  the 
current  of  worldly  and  fashionable  religion.  The  teach- 
ings to  which  you  now  hsten  with  respect  and  docility, 
wiU  have  lost  all  charm,  and  the  simplicity  that  is  in 
Christ  will  have  been  exchanged  for  a  polished  but  cold, 
an  attractive  but  uninfluential,  a  philosophical  but  un- 
evangelical  strain,  which  shall  fill  the  ear  and  entertain 
the  intellect,  and  fascinate  the  imagination,  but  from 
which  Jesus  crucified  shall  be  totally  absent.  How 
shall  such  a  defection  be  prevented  ?  How  shall  such 
instabihty  be  guarded?  Only  by  being  strong  in  the 
Lord.  And  O  if,  by  intimate  communion  with  him  in 
devotional  exercises,  you  are  made  to  "  grow  in  grace 
and  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  then, 
and  then  only,  will  you  be  enabled  to  "  stand  in  the 
evil  day,  and  having  done  all,  to  stand."  Now,  be- 
loved, having  on  this  first  Sabbath  of  the  New  Year 
sat  together  in  the  rest  and  refreshment  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, as  under  a  pleasant  shade  by  the  wayside,  and 
being  uncertain  whether  we  shall  ever  meet  thus 
again,  or  who  among  us  shall,  during  this  period,  be 
called  away ;  let  us  arise,  and  lift  our  burdens,  and  take 
up  again  the  pilgrim  staff,  and  set  out  anew  upon  our 
journey.  We  might  utter  the  words  of  Moses :  "If  thy 
presence   go  not  with  me,  carry  us  not  up  hence." 


442  STRENGTH  IN  CHRIST. 

Ex.  xxxiii.  15.  The  Lord  has  been  with  us;  let  us 
hope  that  he  will  not  forsake  us.  As  a  church  we  can 
do  all  things,  through  Christ  which  strengtheneth  us. 
We  can  cling  together ;  we  can  grow ;  we  can  open  out 
bosom  to  receive  the  young,  the  stranger,  and  the  wan- 
derer; we  can  abound  in  good  offices  and  acts  of 
charity ;  we  can  break  forth  to  found  new  colonies  for 
Christ ;  we  can  part  with  property,  health,  friends,  yea, 
life  itself,  at  the  Master's  call ;  we  can  drink  deeply  at 
the  wells  of  truth,  and  derive  nourishment  from  the 
bread  of  the  Word ;  we  can  cast  behind  us  old  sins,  and 
put  on  us  the  armour  of  hght,  letting  our  godly  exam- 
ple shine  on  all  around  us ;  we  can  rejoice  alway,  and 
glory  in  tribulation  also.  All  this,  and  more  than  this, 
can  we  do  through  him  that  strengtheneth  our  hearts. 
But  without  Him,  branches  separated  from  the  Vine,  we 
can  do  nothing. 


XX. 


YOUTH    EENEWED    IN    AGE 


YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE* 


Isaiah  xl.  31. 

"  But  they  that  wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  renew  their  strength ;  they 
shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles ;  they  shall  run  and  not  be 
weary ;  and  they  shall  walk  and  not  faint." 

Compared  with  Psalm  ciii.  5. 

*'  Who  satisfieth  thy  mouth  with  good  things ;  so  that  thy  youth  is 
renewed  like  the  eagle's." 

Statues  would  be  erected  to  the  man  who  could 
disclose  the  secret  of  a  happy  Old  Age.  For  while  the 
most  of  mankind  desire  longevity,  the  judgment  is 
equally  universal  that  the  decline  of  life  is  painful. 
The  same  law,  however  we  may  expound  it,  which 
binds  over  the  entire  race  to  dissolution,  makes  the 
avenues  to  death  full  of  terror.  The  sentimentahsm 
and  poetry  of  our  day,  in  a  vain  contest  with  the  nature 

*  N"ew  York,  January  20,  1850. 


446  YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE. 

of  things,  would  hang  garlands  over  the  grave,  and 
educate  the  rising  race  in  a  persuasion  that  death  has 
no  horrors.  But  nature,  how  often  soever  driven  out, 
persists  in  returning.  We  dread  death  ;  and  we  dread 
that  old  age  which  procrastinates  it.  Such  is  our 
dilemma.  Viewed  from  the  terrestrial  side,  the  fearful 
object  is  seen  aright.  It  is  revelation,  and  grace  con- 
firmed to  us  by  revelation,  which  clear  the  prospect. 
In  what  manner  this  is  effected  will  be  made  apparent, 
if  we  consider  these  two  statements  included  in  our  text. 
1.  That  Old  Age  is  naturally  a  time  of  weakness  and 
trouble ;  but,  2.  That  Christian  confidence  and  hope  in 
God  give  freshness,  strength  and  joy,  even  in  the  period 
of  Old  Age. 

I.  Old  Age  is  naturally  a  time  of  weakness  and 
trouble.  We  see  it  for  ourselves ;  even  if  we  have  not 
begun  to  feel  it.  Till  lifted  out  of  the  common  track 
of  opinion,  every  one  looks  on  the  aged  as  withdrawn 
from  the  path  of  happiness.  Civilization  and  its  refine- 
ments have  undoubtedly  elevated  the  condition  of  the 
aged,  as  truly  as  of  the  female  sex.  Yet  even  this  is 
often  no  more  than  a  dehcate  feigning;  for  if  rank, 
wealth,  place  and  power  be  abstracted,  there  is  nothing 
reverential  in  such  appellations  as  "  the  old  man  "  and 
"  the  old  woman."  In  this  country,  at  least,  we  are  on 
this  head  more  Athenians  than  Lacedemonians.  Of  a 
surety  we  do  not  imitate  the  Hebrew,  who  is  taught  to 
rise  up  before  the  hoary  head.  Universally  we  attach 
to  old  age  associations  of  debility  and  consequent  mth- 


YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE.  4  4 'J' 

drawal  from  the  arena  of  excitement  and  the  bower  of 
mirth.  The  old  man's  faculties  are  dim,  and  his  sus- 
ceptibiUties  are  obtunded.  He  is  left  out  of  the  pro- 
gramme of  entertainment.  If  called  to  feasting,  he  is 
expected  to  say  with  Barzillai :  "  Can  I  hear  any  more 
the  voice  of  singing  men  and  singing  women  ?  "  In  a 
great  number  of  instances,  also,  age  is  regarded  as  a 
disqualification  for  active  service.  And  these  results 
strike  us  more  forcibly  in  those  ruder  states  of  society 
where  nature  presents  its  nude  reality.  All  the  history, 
all  the  fiction,  all  the  observation  of  the  world,  ascribe 
to  this  stage  of  the  human  journey  much  of  shadow, 
cloud,  and  obstruction.  As  it  respects  the  fact,  the  case 
is  not  otherwise  presented  by  Scripture.  These  are  the 
days  in  which  the  weary  one  says  :  "  I  have  no  pleasure 
in  them."  If  lengthened  out,  "yet  is  their  strength 
labour  and  sorrow."  "  Surely  every  man  walketh  in  a 
vain  show ;  surely  they  are  disquieted  in  vain ;  he 
heapeth  up  riches  and  knoweth  not  who  shall  gather 
them."  In  the  prospect  of  such  hours  of  gloom,  the 
Psalmist  prays  :  "  Cast  me  not  off  in  the  time  of  old 
age ;  forsake  me  not  when  my  strength  faileth."  When 
the  youthful  wish  for  long  life,  they  seek  they  know  not 
what.  Age  is  solitary ;  the  tritest  figure  is  the  most 
apt :  the  tree  whose  branches  have  been  lopped  off,  tiU 
it  stands  a  naked  trunk.  Such  is  the  tax  paid  for  lon- 
gevity. Decline  does  not  commonly  arrive  without  a 
succession  of  warnings,  enigmatically  depicted  in  that 
strange  oriental  passage  which  closes  the  Ecclesiastes. 


448  YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE. 

Limbs  grow  stiff;  the  repast  is  toilsome ;  articulate  ut- 
terance is  hindered ;  sight  and  hearing  become  obtuse ; 
pains  visit  and  revisit  the  frame,  and  at  length  make 
settlement.  Caution  waxes  inordinate,  and  turns  into 
timorous  apprehension.  Seasons  of  hilarity  decrease, 
and  the  wintry  nights  are  long.  It  requires  something 
from  another  sphere  than  that  of  nature,  to  prevent 
despondency,  suspicion  and  discontent.  If  the  diseases 
which  portend  departure  act  on  the  physical  functions, 
the  sadness  of  a  worldly  Old  Age  is  deplorable.  If 
poverty  or  neglect  or  domestic  disappointment  be  added 
to  the  loss  of  all  life's  pleasures  and  excitements,  old 
age  is  a  great  and  almost  insupportable  malady.  Yet 
observation,  in  aU  varieties  of  condition,  shows  that  the 
love  of  life  abides  in  perfect  vigour.  We  might  expect 
that  very  weariness  of  living  would  make  the  old  man 
prompt  to  go ;  but  the  ligament  becomes  only  more 
tenacious.  The  wisest  instructor  we  ever  had  used  to 
say,  and  to  say  in  old  age,  that  natural  decay  pro- 
duced no  increase  of  readiness  to  depart.  An  eminent 
writer  on  Pastoral  Theology  reports,  as  of  his  own  ob- 
servation, that  more  than  a  hundred  young  persons, 
whose  deathbeds  he  visited,  passed  away  in  peace ;  that 
the  middle  aged  clung  more  closely  to  life ;  but  that 
the  most  unwilhng  of  all  were  the  aged.*  Even  the 
crime  of  self-murder  is  perpetrated  oftener  by  the  young 
than  the  old.    At  no  period  does  man  hang  on  worldly 

*  "  Erfahrungen  am  Kranken  und  Sterbebette ; "  von  E.  Kuendig. 
Basle,  1856. 


YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE.  449 

things  with  a  more  tenacious  clutch,  than  when  they 
are  all  about  to  be  rent  away  together.  This  very 
much  levels  the  condition  of  rich  and  poor  in  old  age. 
The  wealthy  sinner  has  that  which  he  can  no  longer 
enjoy ;  yet  never  did  he  so  yearningly  gape  for  more. 
The  ship  is  in  the  very  harbour ;  yet  the  voyager  is 
amassing  fresh  stores.  It  is  a  madness  which  consti- 
tutes part  of  the  punishment  of  an  irrehgious  life.  The 
thirst  of  gain  is  insatiable.  Comedy  and  satire  in  all 
languages  have  painted  the  same  picture.  Young 
enthusiasts  think  that  when  they  shall  be  old  and  rich, 
they  will  diffuse  blessedness  on  hundreds  around  them ; 
and  it  is  true  this  would  tend  to  make  the  close  of  hfe 
delightful.  But  when  they  have  reached  the  point, 
alas,  the  heart  has  grown  old  and  is  withered.  Scores 
may  have  died  who  might  have  been  claimants  for  aid ; 
poor  kinsfolk  may  have  been  long  ago  warned  off  by 
the  chilly  barrier ;  the  doleful  habitation  may  have  its 
valves  all  opening  inwards ;  and  yet  there  is  not  enough. 
Just  such  a  spot,  in  Gentile  mythology,  was  the  hell  of 
Tantalus.  Such  old  age  is  trouble  and  sorrow.  So 
Solomon  concludes ;  "  There  is  one  alone,  and  there  is 
not  a  second ;  yea,  he  hath  neither  child  nor  brother : 
yet  there  is  no  end  of  all  his  labour :  neither  is  his  eye 
satisfied  with  riches  ;  neither  saith  he.  For  whom  do  I 
labour,  and  bereave  my  soul  of  good  ?  This  also  is 
vanity,  yea,  it  is  a  sore  travail."   Ecc.  iv.  8. 

Even  the  true  Christian,  when  his  case  is  viewed 
without  the  solace  of  which  we  shall  presently  speak, 
29 


450  YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE. 

sometimes  passes  through  great  trials  in  the  latter  por- 
tion of  his  life.  To  some  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of 
Death  is  long  and  dreary.  Diversities  of  corporeal  dis- 
ability, family  vexation,  and  mental  agitation  or  depres- 
sion, assault  and  weaken  the  resolution  which  has  with- 
stood repeated  shocks.  And  I  freely  own,  that  if  we 
could  take  no  higher  view  of  life  than  that  which  is 
admitted  by  the  sceptical  world,  we  should  abandon 
the  worn-out  creature  to  his  despair.  He  might,  in 
lucid  intervals  of  a  partial  belief,  cry  out  to  his  Maker, 
"  Whv  hast  thou  made  all  men  in  vain  ?  "  What  can 
be  more  melancholy,  than  a  soul  about  to  migrate  to  an 
unknown  state  ?  There  is  something  so  contrary  to 
nature  in  the  forced  attempts  at  gayety  which  some- 
times disgrace  aged  people  of  the  world,  that  society  is 
prompt  to  manifest  its  disgust.  The  gravitation  of  na- 
tive temperament  prevails  over  all  such  affectations, 
mockeries  and  disguises.  The  soHtary  hour  is  honest, 
and  it  is  dark.  Outward  mementoes  are  multiphed. 
Ah,  in  how  many  funeral  processions  must  the  survivor 
walk  with  sad  decorum,  himself  a  living  sermon  to  all 
around !  "  Because  man  goeth  to  his  long  home,  and 
the  mourners  go  about  the  streets."  No  longer  delighted 
to  Hve,  yet  afraid  to  die,  the  worldly  man  who  has  sur- 
vived his  contemporaries,  grows  sullenly  silent  and 
keeps  his  own  secret.  Por  to  whom  shall  he  go  with 
that  complaint,  which  only  serves  to  break  the  spell  of 
his  cherished  delusion  and  reveal  him  to  himself  ?  Dear 
as  his  gold  is,  he  would  almost  barter  it  all  for  a  draught 


YOUTH  RENEWED  IS  AGE. 


451 


of  that  fountain  of  youth  which  Spanish  adventure 
sought  in  tropical  America.  The  poor  disquieted  suf- 
ferer is  faint,  and  discovers,  that  so  far  as  nature  reaches, 
old  age  is  a  time  of  weakness  and  trouble. 

II.  Christian  confidence  and  hope  in  God  give 
freshness,  strength  and  joy,  even  in  the  period  of  Old 
Age.  "They  that  wait  on  Jehovah,"  or  in  modem 
English,  they  that  wait  for  him,  who  evince  their  trust 
in  his  goodness  and  power  by  patiently  awaiting  the 
fulfilment  of  his  promises,  they,  though  no  longer 
young  (mark  the  contrast  with  v.  30),  "  shall  renew 
their  strength;  they  shall  mount  up  on  wings  like 
eagles,  they  shall  run  and  not  be  weary,  and  they  shall 
walk  and  not  faint."  The  same  thought  is  in  the 
thanksgiving  of  the  one  hundred  and  third  Psalm, 
V.  5 :  "  Bless  Jehovah,  O  my  soul,  who  satisfieth  thy 
mouth  with  good  things,  so  that  thy  youth  is  renewed 
like  the  eagle's."  From  both  we  may  conclusively 
gather  that  Divine  grace  has  influences  to  bestow  which 
can  counteract  and  often  annul  the  debihtating  tenden-  y^ 
cies  of  Old  Age.  We  are  not  authorized,  it  is  true,  to^ 
teach  that  any  degree  of  rehgious  ajffection  can  turn 
back  the  shadow  on  the  dial-plate,  restore  its  auburn 
beauty  to  the  gray  head,  or  neutralize  the  physical 
causes  of  distress  ;  though  even  here,  such  is  the  power 
of  spirit  over  matter,  that  history  shows  marvels  of  an 
almost  youthful  gladness  in  blessed  Christian  old  age. 
But  we  may  and  can  assert,  that  he  whose  habits  have 
been  formed  in  a  perpetual  waiting  upon  God,  receives 


452  YOUTH  EENEWED  IN  AGE. 

a  hallowed  unction  of  grace,  which,  so  to  speak,  makes 
him  young  again,  or,  m^ore  properly,  keeps  him  from 
waxing  old  within.  In  the  most  rapid  survey,  we  have 
considered  some  of  the  causes  which  make  this  season 
of  life  formidable.  All  ages  have  observed  them ;  all 
philosophies  have  sought  to  destroy  or  lessen  their  force. 
The  most  accomphshed  of  all  Roman  authors  has  left 
nothing  more  finished  than  his  celebrated  tract  on  Old 
Age.  Short  of  the  meridian  beam  of  revelation  and  its 
reflections,  nothing  ever  showed  more  nobly ;  yet  the 
ray  of  its  consolations  is  but  a  beautiful  moonlight.  In 
vain  is  the  venerable  Cato  introduced  to  teach  us  secrets 
which  Cato  never  knew.  In  this  gem-hke  treatise 
Cicero  refers  the  troubles  of  age  to  four  classes.  Old 
Age,  so  he  tells  us,  is  feared  because  (1)  it  withdraws 
from  the  affairs  of  hfe ;  because  (2)  it  brings  infirmity 
of  body ;  because  (3)  it  abridges  or  ends  our  pleasures ; 
and  (4)  because  it  leads  to  death.  Already,  in  treat- 
ing of  these  several  heads,  much  is  said  truly,  ably, 
and  to  a  certain  extent  satisfactorily,  on  the  first  and 
third  topics;  but  on  the  last,  there  is  nothing  but 
melancholy  conjecture.  Even  in  regard  to  the  other 
heads,  of  business,  health  and  pleasure,  the  suggestions 
are  infinitely  below  those  known  by  the  humblest  Chris- 
tian rustic.  Por  what  did  this  great  and  eloquent  Ro- 
man know  of  the  oil  which  grace  pours  into  the  sinking 
and  almost  expiring  lamp  ? 

It  is  not  to  be  denied,  when  we  come  with  candour 
to  the  investigation,  that  as  a  general  truth,  Old  Age 


YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE.  453 

withdraws  men  from  the  employments  of  Hfe,  and  seals 
up  the  active  business  years.  In  the  great  majority  of 
instances,  however,  this  retreat  for  labour  is  voluntarily 
sought  long  before  the  access  of  grave  infirmity.  In^ 
deed,  in  prosperous  communities,  many  retire  too  early, 
under  a  chimerical  hope  of  enjoying  an  elegant  repose, 
for  which  they  have  made  no  provision  by  mental  cul- 
ttire  and  disciphne  of  moral  habits.  There  is,  it  is 
true,  another  sort  of  recession  from  productive  labours, 
which  we  occasionally  observe  in  old  men,  and  which 
arises  whoUy  from  an  unchastened  selfishness.  Let  any 
one  grow  wealthy  without  the  warming  and  expanding 
influences  of  benevolence,  and  he  will  more  and  more 
lose  his  interest  in  all  that  is  going  on  in  the  world. 
Even  wars  and  revolutions  touch  him  only  in  their 
financial  aspects,  and  the  daily  journal  is  to  him  not  so 
much  a  courier  of  news,  as  a  barometer  of  loss  and 
gain.  Without  rehgion,  the  circle  becomes  more  con- 
tracted. Friends  have  departed,  by  scores  if  not  by 
hundreds.  What  cares  he  for  mighty  movements  in 
behalf  of  humanity  and  hohness  around  him  ?  What 
cares  he  for  posterity,  the  country  or  the  world,  so  that 
he  can  exalt  his  own  gate,  or  die  worth  some  round 
sum  which  floats  before  him  as  his  heaven  ?  In  the 
same  degree  he  wraps  himself  in  his  mantle,  which  is 
daily  shrinking  to  his  own  poor  dimensions.  This  is 
misery  indeed.  Take  away  the  blessed  sun,  and  every 
thing  becomes  wintry,  frozen,  all  but  dead :  take  away 
more  blessed  love,  and  the  heart  is  dumb,  cheerless,  in- 


454  YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE. 

sulated,  meanly  poor,  so  that  the  Latins  named  such  a 
one  MISER.  Let  us  leave  him,  shivering  in  his  cave, 
overhung  with  icicles,  and  come  out  into  the  evening 
sunshine  to  consider  the  aged  beHever.  He  is  like 
Mnason,  "  an  old  disciple."  He  still  learns.  The 
Greek  story  tells  us  that  when  Solon  lay  dying,  and 
overheard  some  conversation  on  philosophy  in  his  apart- 
ment, he  raised  his  head  and  said,  "  Let  me  share  in 
your  conversation,  for  though  I  am  dying  I  would  still 
be  learning."  Ten  thousand  times  has  this  been  more 
reasonably  exemplified  in  dying  Christians,  who  con- 
sider the  whole  of  this  life  as  but  the  lowest  form  of 
the  school  into  which  they  have  been  entered.  And  in 
regard  to  activity,  while  modes  of  service  must  vary 
with  the  bodily  condition,  we  are  bold  to  maintain  that 
innumerable  Christians  now  living  are,  in  advanced  life, 
impressing  the  whole  engine  of  human  affairs  with  as 
momentous  a  touch  as  at  any  previous  stage  of  exist- 
ence. If  there  is  Wisdom,  the  proper  jewel  of  age,  and 
divine  grace  in  its  manifold  actings,  there  need  be  no 
lack  of  influence.  They  still  lift  up  the  eagle  pinion, 
and  soar  in  such  greatness  as  belongs  to  their  nature. 
But  the  point  to  which  we  would  ask  more  marked  at- 
tention is  this,  that  the  aged  believer,  so  far  from  being 
selfishly  dead  to  what  is  going  on  in  the  world,  is  more 
vigilant  and  more  in  sympathy  with  all,  than  even  in 
his  days  of  youth.  Blessed  be  God,  we  have  seen  this 
again  and  again.  The  man  who  waits  on  God,  the 
man  of  faith  and  hope,  the  man  of  melting  benevolence, 


YOUTH  RENEWED  IK  AGE.  455 

looks  tlirough  the  loopholes  of  retreat  upon  a  world 
whose  vast  and  often  terrific  revolutions  interest  him 
chiefly  as  included  in  a  cycle  of  providential  arrange- 
ments calculated  to  develop  and  exhibit  the  glory  of 
grace.  His  heart  beats  responsive  to  these.  The  news 
of  Christ's  kingdom  is  as  dear  to  him  as  when  he  was 
vehemently  active  in  the  field.  He  looks  down  the 
ages  by  the  lamp  of  prophecy,  and  beholds  events 
which  will  take  place  when  he  shall  have  been  long  in 
paradise.  This  connects  him  with  the  cause  of  Christ 
on  earth,  and  redeems  him  from  that  miserable  dungeon- 
like  seclusion  of  soul  which  wastes  away  the  aged 
worldhng.  So  far  is  it  from  being  true  that  these  por- 
traitures are  figments  of  religious  imagination,  that  we 
have  been  led  to  the  choice  of  the  subject  by  knowledge 
and  recollection  of  this  very  paradox  in  actual  example, 
to  wit,  extreme  old  age  made  light,  strong  and  happy, 
by  community  of  interest  in  the  progressive  triumphs 
of  philanthropy  and  missions. 

When,  according  to  the  Talmudic  fable,  the  eagle 
soars  toward  the  sun,  he  renews  the  plumage  of  his 
former  days.  As  the  serene  disciple  withdraws  himself 
from  any  personal  agency  in  the  entangling  plans  of  life, 
he  studies  more  profoundly  what  his  Master  is  wea\ing 
into  the  web  of  history.  No  longer  young,  he  has 
a  heart  which  gushes  in  sympathy  with  the  young.  He 
cheers  them  on.  He  places  the  weapons  in  their  hands. 
He  takes  from  the  wall  his  sword,  shield,  and  helmet, 
and  rejoices  that  God  still  has  younger  soldiers  in  the 


456  YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE. 

field.  He  lives  his  life  over  again  in  their  achieve- 
ments, and  pictures  to  himself  more  signal  victories 
after  he  shall  have  gone.  Like  the  wounded  hero  Wolfe, 
he  could  even  die  more  happy  if  the  shout  of  victory- 
should  arouse  his  failing  perception,  Par  from  being 
shut  up  in  morose  neglectful  selfishness,  he  glories  that 
God's  cause  still  lives  and  must  prevail. 

2.  But,  then,  you  retort,  there  is  a  sad  infirmity, 
inseparable  from  Old  Age.  Piety,  however  exalted, 
will  not  remove  this.  Of  all  diseases  this  is  proverbi- 
ally the  most  incurable.  Brethren,  we  might  take  the 
high  ground,  that  godliness  hath  the  promise  of  the 
life  that  now  is;  that  temperance  and  other  virtues 
prolong  life  and  avert  disease ;  that  the  righteous  shaU 
"  see  good  days,"  and  that  religion  is  the  best  of  all 
medicines.  But  fearing  lest  we  should  be  charged  with 
exaggeration  by  the  inexperienced,  we  wiU  pitch  our 
cause  on  a  lower  plane,  and  rest  content  with  declaring 
that  Christian  confidence  and  hope  confer  a  strength 
which  is  perfectly  compatible  with  all  this  bodily  weak- 
ness, decay  and  pain.  Christianity,  my  hearers,  is  a 
system  of  indemnities.  It  does  not  insure  us  exemp- 
tion from  all  losses,  but  it  guarantees  that  these  shall 
be  more  than  made  up  to  us.  True,  the  grand  indem- 
nification is  at  the  recompense  of  the  resurrection.  But 
prelibations  of  glory  are  poured  into  the  earthly  vessels 
of  grace.  The  quickening  charm  is  not  natural,  but 
supernatural.  Mark,  in  the  twenty-eighth  verse,  how 
the  eternal  increate  fount  of  good  is  pointed  out ;  and 


YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE.  457 

learn  how  the  fulness  of  God,  through  a  Mediator,  be- 
comes the  available  supply  of  man :  "  Hast  thou  not 
known  ?  hast  thou  not  heard,  that  the  everlasting  God, 
Jehovah,  the  Creator  of  the  ends  of  the  earth,  fainteth 
not,  neither  is  weary  ?  There  is  no  searching  of  his 
understanding.  He  giveth  power  to  the  faint  r  Here 
is  human  infirmity  brought  into  connection  with  Om- 
nipotence. Here  is  the  solution  of  Paul's  enigma, 
"When  I  am  weak,  then  am  I  strong."  Here  is 
Christ's  cordial  to  the  aged,  *'My  strength  is  made 
perfect  in  weakness."  But  let  us  return  to  our  prophet. 
He  represents  even  blooming  adolescence  as  despond- 
ing, while  the  feeble  are  made  powerftd  by  faith. 
*'Even  the  youths  shall  faint  and  be  weary,  and  the 
young  men  shall  utterly  fall ;  but  they  that  wait  on  the 
Lord  shall  renew  their  strength." 

In  the  return  from  Babylon  the  oldest  were  sad- 
dest ;  for  they  remembered  the  glory  of  the  first  house. 
Nehemiah,  therefore,  had  peculiar  reference  to  them, 
when  he  said  to  the  weeping  assembly,  "  Neither  be  ye 
sorry ;  for  the  joy  of  the  Lord  is  your  strength."  Holy 
joy  is  a  springhead  of  renewed  youthfulness.  The 
effects  of  grief  and  age  are  not  unlike.  How  often 
have  we  seen  a  friend  go  into  the  house  of  mourning, 
young,  and  come  out  old  ?  Such  was  David's  expe- 
rience, Ps.  xxxii.  3  :  "  My  bones  waxed  old,  through 
my  moaning  all  the  day  long ;  for  day  and  night  thy 
hand  was  heavy  upon  me  :  my  moisture  is  turned  into 
the  drought  of  summer."     The  cedars  and  palms  of 


458  ■        YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE. 

the  sanctuary,  planted  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  "  shall 
still  bring  forth  fruit  in  old  age,  they  shall  be  fat  and 
flourishing,"  Ps.  xcii.  Make  a  soul  thoroughly  glad, 
and  you  make  it  young.  The  effusion  of  divine  joys 
has  virtue  to  annul  outward  disabihties.  For  observe 
the  perfect  analogy  of  another  passage  concerning 
strength.  Is.  xxxv :  "  Strengthen  ye  the  weak  hands, 
and  confirm  the  feeble  knees  :  say  to  them  that  are  of 
a  fearful  heart.  Be  strong,  fear  not ! "  "  Then  shall  the 
lame  man  leap  as  an  hart,  and  the  tongue  of  the  dumb 
shall  sing."  Such  is  grace,  superseding  nature,  conciH- 
ating  contraries,  making  the  feeble  mighty  and  giving 
youth  to  the  aged.  And  0  how  greatly  would  our  ex- 
perience and  observation  of  the  gift  be  increased,  if  with 
higher  faith  and  expectation  we  were  waiting  upon 
God! 

3.  The  antechamber  of  the  Eternal  abode  is  cold 
and  appalling  to  nature.  This  makes  Old  Age  unwel- 
come to  the  unprepared.  This  causes  the  wretched 
shifts  by  which  they  avert  the  thought  of  doom.  So 
successful  is  the  delusion,  that  the  man  of  seventy  plans 
for  to-morrow  as  if  he  were  not  already  in  many  senses 
dead.  No  man  is  so  old,  says  Cicero,  but  that  he  thinks 
he  may  live  another  day.  And  so  from  day  to  day,  as 
by  stepping  stones  in  the  turbid  stream,  they  totter  on, 
till  the  sudden  fall  plunges  them  into  eternity. 

The  fear  of  death,  which  on  the  young  sometimes 
works  salutary  reflection,  often  becomes  to  the  aged  a 
motive  for  abstracting  the  thoughts  from  the  hateful 


YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE.  459 

subject ;  and  so  they  think  of  something  else,  and  are 
damned.  I  dare  not  undertake  to  say,  what  may  be 
the  reflections  of  the  old  worldHng,  when  he  lies  down 
for  the  last  struggle,  and  finds  that  Eternity  is  dawning 
on  his  soul,  and  yet  that  he  has  not  made  the  least  pro- 
vision for  meeting  his  God.  But  I  know,  for  I  have 
often  seen,  how  strong  in  faith  and  hope  may  be  the 
old  age  of  the  true  Christian.  After  all,  it  is  celestial 
HOPE  which  sheds  the  dew  of  youth  on  his  silver  locks. 
His  posture  is  that  of  waiting,  as  watchers  expect  the 
dawn.  "  More  than  they  that  watch  for  the  morning." 
Fresh  blood  seems  to  course  through  those  outworn 
arteries,  as  Hope  waves  the  hand  of  indication  towards 
perpetual  spring  and  everlasting  youth.  Not  in  the 
mere  elysian  or  Mohammedan  sense,  though  we  deny 
the  attributes  and  enjoyments  of  that  bodily  comple- 
ment of  the  soul  which  is  to  be  raised  in  incorruption, 
in  glory,  in  power,  a  spiritual  body.  But  the  fresh 
breath  of  knowledge,  of  reason,  of  truth,  therefore  of 
beauty,  of  love,  of  universal  holiness,  is  wafted  from 
those  gardens  to  the  ancient  behever,  as  he  worships, 
*  leaning  on  the  top  of  his  staff,'  and  sojourns  a  Httle 
in  the  land  of  Beulah.  We  have  sometimes  seen  the 
clearness  and  vigour  of  former  years  come  back.  Call 
not  that  man  old,  who  is  full  of  joys  and  hallelujahs, 
and  who  is  eager  to  drop  the  clog,  shuffle  off  the  mortal 
coil,  and  soar  like  a  bird  set  free  from  the  snare  of  the 
fowler.  Call  him  old  who  is  inveterate  in  sin ;  who 
never  prays ;  who  dares  not  think  of  death ;  who  is 


460  YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE. 

without  God  and  without  hope,  and  on  whose  hoary- 
head  no  blessing  ever  descends.  The  Simeon  who  has 
Christ  in  his  arms,  has  in  him  a  well  of  water  spring- 
ing ;  and  so  the  true  fountain  of  youth.  All  believing 
and  sublime  exercises  of  Christian  experience  have  in 
them  something  as  fresh  as  childhood.  Once  when  I 
was  supporting  a  very  aged  believer  from  the  house  of 
God,  he  turned  to  me  and  said  :  "I  never  felt  younger, 
and  I  believe  that  promise  is  fulfilled  in  me.  He  *  satis- 
fieth  thy  mouth  with  good  things,  so  that  thy  youth  is 
renewed  like  the  eagle's.' "  This  persuasion,  that  true 
rehgion  brings  the  soul  into  fellowship  mth  all  that  is 
free,  hopeful  and  advancing  in  earth,  and  all  that  is 
bright  and  perfect  in  heaven,  led  the  most  distinguished 
of  late  German  theologians,  Schleiermacher,  to  say,  in 
the  close  of  a  long  life :  "  The  true  Christian  is  always 
young." 

The  racy  old  EngHsh  of  John  Bunyan  best  sets 
forth  this  stage  of  pilgrimage :  "  Here  they  heard  con- 
tinually the  singing  of  birds,  and  saw  every  day  the 
flowers  appear  in  the  earth,  and  heard  the  voice  of  the 
turtle  in  the  land.  In  this  country  the  sun  shineth 
night  and  day.  Here  they  were  within  sight  of  the  city 
they  were  going  to :  also  they  met  some  of  the  inhab- 
itants thereof ;  for  in  this  land  the  shining  ones  com- 
monly walked,  because  it  was  upon  the  borders  of 
heaven.  In  this  land  also  the  contract  between  the 
Bride  and  the  Bridegroom  was  renewed,  yea,  here,  *  as 
the  bridegroom  rejoiceth  over  the  bride,  so  doth  their 


YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE. 


461 


God  rejoice  over  them."     My  beloved  brethren,  we 
must  be  submissive  to  God's  will,  even  if  such  an  even- 
ing of  life  be  not  vouchsafed  to  us.    Yet  I  will  maintain, 
that  it  is  of  the  nature  of  Christianity  to  produce  such 
joys.     The  exceptions  are  not  from  grace,  but  from* 
disturbing  causes  in  our  partially unsanctified  hearts.' 
Waiting   on  God  is  directly  promotive  of  fresh  and  \ 
heavenly  strength.     The  long  continued  practice  and  i 
rooted  habit  of  waiting  upon  God,  in  confidence  and  I 
expectation,  are  the  best  preparative  for  a  serene  decline  ' 
and  a  happy  end. 

If  the  sentiment  of  the  world  may  be  safely  judged 
from  its  reflection  in  the  mirror  of  the  fictitious  litera- 
ture, which  is  seized  with  most  avidity  and  reproduced  in 
the  greatest  number  of  languages,  then  unquestionably 
the  opinion  is,  that  there  is  no  happiness  in  evangehcal 
piety ;  and  an  Old  Age  of  rehgion  is  one  of  sourness, 
vindictiveness,  and  misanthropic  woe.  Let  the  picture 
of  a  Christian  matron  be  painted  by  the  matchless  pen- 
cil of  one,  whose  misfortune  it  must  have  been  never  to 
have  beheld  the  original,  and  with  whom  devotion  and 
hypocrisy  are  the  same,  and  the  Hneaments  are  such  as 
these :  "  Great  need  had  the  rigid  woman  of  her  mys- 
tical religion,  veiled  in  gloom  and  darkness,  with  hght- 
nings  of  cursing,  vengeance,  and  destruction,  flashing 
through  the  sable  clouds."  I  quote  from  the  ignorant 
and  mahgnant  travesty  of  Christian  Old  Age,  which 
mars  the  most  widely  current  story  of  the  hour.  And 
I  quote  it,  because  it  will  meet  response  in  hundreds 


462  YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE. 

of  thousands,  who  need  the  grace  of  Christ  to  avert 
these  very  storm-clouds  of  decUning  day.  Let  a  holier 
literature  prevail  in  the  refined  world,  a  literature  which 
shall  honour  holy  wedlock,  family  rehgion,  and  the 
iChurch  of  Christ,  and  we  shall  behold  other  por- 
traitures of  the  wife  or  the  widow  upon  whom  evangel- 
ical truth  has  shed  its  dews  of  eventide. 

You  listen,  my  hearer,  with  the  interest  of  one  who 
expects  to  journey  thitherward.  But  you  will  perhaps 
never  reach  that  stage  of  the  way.  A  small  proportion 
attain  to  hoary  hairs.  Yet  even  for  you,  the  topic  is 
not  devoid  of  interest.  That  which  is  good  for  Old  Age 
is  good  for  other  conditions  of  sadness,  which  resemble 
it ;  for  illness,  disease,  pain,  solitude,  reproach,  poverty, 
or  depression.  When  you  shall  have  learnt  to  wait  on  1 
the  Lord,  you  shall  tread  all  these  under  your  feet,  as  f 
ready  to  fly  heavenward. 

That  which  prepares  for  Old  Age,  prepares  for  the 
termination  of  life  at  any  age.  It  is  decreed  that  every 
human  life  shall  close ;  and  most  close  early.  To  go 
suddenly  and  unprepared  into  that  shadow  is  fearful. 
Does  not  wisdom  commend  this  familiar,  trustful,  filial 
waiting  upon  God?  The  judicious  and  eloquent  Sau- 
EiN  wished  that  he  might  in  every  sermon  make  some 
allusion  to  Death,  because  he  had  remarked  how  imi- 
versally  this  consideration  was  affecting  to  the  mind. 
The  Pather  of  our  spirits  meant  that  it  should  be  thus. 
Endure  the  contemplation  long  enough  to  chill  carnal 


YOUTH  RENEWED  IN  AGE.  453 

ardours  and  dispel  the  juvenile  mirage.     Even  in  pros- 
perity wait  on  the  Lord. 

It  would  be  treachery  in  me  to  conceal  altogether 
the  woe  and  peril  of  a  Christless  Old  Age.  Horrid 
anomaly  !  So  dead  to  this  world's  pleasures,  so  near  to 
heaven  or  hell,  and  yet  unconcerned.  Tottering  on  his 
staff,  the  impenitent  veteran  in  the  camp  of  Satan  blun- 
ders on,  already  half  gone,  and  stupidly  improvident  as 
to  the  only  means  of  dying  well.  O,  poor  old  man  ! 
let  me  in  affection  and  pity  cry  to  you,  seize  on  that 
only  medicine  which  gives  everlasting  youth  !  Attach 
yourself,  by  acquiescing  in  his  free  redemption,  to  that 
Saviour  whom  we  are  authorized  to  offer  to  the  worst 
and  oldest. 


'Suijpo 


t 


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DISCOURSES    ON   COMMON    TOPICS     OF    CHRISTIAN 
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JFrom  Preface.'—*'  Let  me  avow  that  there  are  doctrinal  statements 
in  the  following  pages,  which,  though  in  no  sense  novel,  are  such  as 
conduce  to  the  xery  life  of  my  soul,  and  such,  therefore,  as  I  am  ex- 
ceedingly desirous,  in  my  h^lmble  measure,  to  rescue  from  misappre- 
hension and  inculcate  on  my  children  and  friends.  *  *  *  Years  fly 
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ticism. Its  object  is  to  verify,  as  against  the  natiiralism  of  the  daj^,  th« 
supernatural  facts  of  the  gospel-history  and  the  facts  of  a  genuinely 
Christian  experience.  It  undei-takes  to  establish  the  facts  of  Christi- 
anity or  the  Christian  Revelation,  without  raising  at  all  the  question  of 
inspiration,  and  to  verify,  in  short,  the  Christian  salvation  as  being  a 
Divine  work  among  thecauses  of  nature,  both  in  the  matter  of  Christ's 
mission,  and  in  the  inward  application  of  it  to  the  soul 

THE  THEOLOGY  LOF   CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

Designed  as  an  Exposition  of  the  "  Common  Faith  "  of 
the  Church  of  God.  By  Kev.  Geo.  J).  Armstrong, 
D.  D.    1  Yol.  12mo.,  350  pages,  $1. 

Extract  from  the  Preface. — "  There  is  a  '  Common  Faith '  of  the 
Church  of  God  on  earth,  and  this  extending  to  a  far  greater  number  of 
particulars  than  one  would  think  from  examining  the  various  systems^ 
of  theology,  which  find  favor  with  Christian  men.  In  the  following 
treatise  iJbe  author  has  attempted  to  gfve  a  systematic  presentation  of 
this  *  Common  Faith." 


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HISTORY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

Comprising  the  first  three  centuries  from  the  birth  of 
Christ  to  the  reign  of  Constantine  the  Great,  A.  D. 
1-311.  By  Philipp  Schaff,  D.  D.,  author  of  "  His- 
tory of  the  Apostolic  Church."    1  Vol.  8vo.,  $2  50. 

This  vork,  though  not  on  so  extended  a  scale  as  that  of  Ifeander, 
ig  more  than  a  mere  mannal,  like  that  of  Hase  or  Gieseler.  "While 
oflfered  as  the  first  Tolume  of  a  complete  history  of  the  chnrch  down  to 
the  present  day,  it  is  also  complete  in  itself  as  a  history  of  the  first 
three  centuries — that  formation  period,  so  peculiarly  interesting  to  all 
observers  of  the  progress  of  the  Church.  The  reader  -will  find  the  same 
extensive  and  thorough  learning,  philosophical  analysis  and  generaliza- 
tion, devout  earnestness  of  spirit,  calmness  and  freedom  of  judgment, 
lucid  arrangement  and  truly  fascinating  style,  which  have  given  the 
author's  former  work  its  place  in  the  front  rank  of  standard  religioTW 
and  Uieological  literature. 

THE    POWER    OF    PRAYER. 

As  illustrated  in  the  wonderful  displays  of  Divine  Grace, 
at  the  Fulton  St.  and  other  meetings  in  New  York. 
By  the  Kev.  Iken^us  S.  Prime,  D.  D.,  editor  of 
"  The  Kew  York  Observer."    1  Yol.  12mo.,  $1. 

An  authentic  and  reliable  history  of  the  origin  and  progress  of  these 
meetings — the  manner  in  which  they  are  conducted — sketches  of  the 
thrilling  scenes  attending  and  surrounding  them,  with  a  complete 
record  of  the  most  remarkable  cases  of  awakening  and  conversion,  re- 
quests for  prayer  and  extraordinary  answers,  striking  incidents  and 
interesting  rehgious  experiences. 

Early  in  the  year  1859. 

A    HISTORY  OF  THE    CHRISTIAN  CHURCH    IN    TABULAR 
FORM. 

In  fifteen  Tables.  Presenting  in  Parallel  Columns  a 
Synopsis  of  the  External  and  Internal  History  of  the 
Church  from  the  Birth  of  Christ  to  A.  D.  1858.  By 
Professor  H.  B.  Smith,  D.  D.    1  Yol.  folio. 

It  will  be  in  fifteen  tables,  presenting  in  parallel  columns  a  synopsis 
of  the  external  and  internal  liistory  ot  the  Church,  from  the  birtn  of 
Christ  to  A.  D.  1858.  Each  table  contains  twelve  synchronistic  columns, 
viz :  three  upon  the  general  characteristics,  the  contemporaneous  his- 
tory, and  the  state  of  culture  and  philosophy  in  each  period ;  three 
upon  the  external  history,  and  six  upon  the  internal  history,  under 
the  heads  of  church  literature,  polity,  worship,  discipline  and  life,  doc- 
trines and  controversy,  heresies  and  schisms.  One  table  will  be  de- 
voted to  the  history  of  the  Church  in  this  country ;  alphabetical  and 
chronological  lists  of  Councils,  Popes  and  Patriarchs,  with  a  full  index, 
will  be  appended.  This  work  differs  from  other  chronological  tables 
in  aiming  at  a  scientific  digest  of  the  materials,  rather  than  a  mere  col- 
lection of  facts  and  dates.  The  divisions  into  periods  and  tables  are 
made,  not  by  centuries,  but  by  signal  historic  epochs. 


SORlJiNIlR'i  LJLTEST  TUBUCATIONS. 


THE   UiTBRARY   ATTRACTIONS    OF    THB 
BIBLE. 

OR,  k  riMk  f  oa  THE  iroBD  or  god,  coirsmjBiD  as  a  ci^tmc. 

BT  LE  ROY  J.  HALSET,'  D.  D. 

1  VoL  lamo.    $1  SS. 

In  tlie  following  pages  it  is  proposed  to  present  an  outline  of  what 
ta&j  be  called  the  incidental  attractions  of  the  Bible — ^to  set  forth  ita 
•laims,  both  as  a  claasic  and  as  a  book  of  general  education.  Regarded 
simply  as  a  book  of  learning,  of  taste  and  genius,  of  history  and  elo- 
q^uence,  it  has  exerted  an  influence  which  cannot  be  too  highly  estimated, 
and  commends  itself  to  every  cultivated  understanding.  It  ia  the  book 
#f  our  learning,  not  loss  than  our  religion ;  the  basis  of  our  civilization, 
not  less  than  our  ealvation.  It  has  moulded  into  shape,  it  has  quickened 
into  life,  the  -vrhble  body  of  our  secular  learning,  as  well  as  our  theology 
it  has  breathed  its  own  vital  spirit  into  all  our  science,  literature,  legis- 
lation, philosophy,  and  social  and  political  institutions. 

It  is  these  attractions,  which  may  be  felt  and  appreciated  even  by 
the  irreligious  and  worldly-minded,  which  we  propose  to  group  togeth- 
er in  one  distinct  and  connected  view. 

SERMONS    FOR  THE   NEW   LIFE. 

BY  HORACE  BUSHNELL,  D,  D, 
1  VoL  l2mo.  456  pages.  $1.26. 
CONTENTS.  r.-Erery  Man's  Life  a  Plan  of  God.— 11.— The  Spirit  in  Man.— III.-. 
Dignity  of  Human  Nature  shown  from  its  Ruins. — IV. — The  Hunger  of  the  Soul. — 
V. — The  Reason  of  Faith. — VI.— Regeneration. — VII. — ThePerso'bal  Lore  and  Lead 
of  Christ.— VIIL— Light  on  the  Cloud.— IX.— The  Capacity  of  Religion  Extirpated 
by  Diauiie.— X. — Unconscious  Influence. — XL — Obligation  a  Privilege. — XIL— 
Happiness  and  Joy.— XIIL— The  True  Problem  of  Christian  Experiencp, — ^XIV.— 
The  Lost  Purity  Restored.— XV.— Living  to  God  in  Small  Things.— XVL— The 
Power  of  an  Endless  Life.— XVIL— Respectable  Sin.— XVIIL— The  Power  of 
•od  in  Self-SacrlBce.- XIX.— Duty  not  Measured  by  Our  Own  Ability.— XX.— H« 
that  Knows  God  will  Confess  Him. — XXL— The  EfiBciency  of  the  Passive- Virtuaa 
XXII.— Spiritual  Dialodgmente.—XXIU.— Christ  as  Separate  from  the  World. 

CHINA,   ITS    RELIGIONS   AND   SUPERSTI- 
TIONS. 

OE,    DA.P.KNESS    IS   THE    FLOWEET    L  A.  N  D  , 

BY  BEY.  M.  S.  CULBERTSON. 

1  VoL  12mo.    Engnaving.     Price  75  cents. 

It  contains  a  graphic  and  comprehensive  account  of  the  religions, 
popular  superstitions,  customs,  and  social  condition  of  the  Chinese — the 
result  of  eleven  years  of  careful  observation  and  study,  while  laboring 
M  a  missionary  in  habits  of  daily  intercourse  with  th«  people,  with  a 
knowledge  of  their  language. 

The  view  presented  of  their  religious  degradation,  cannot  fail  to  in 
terest  every  benevolent  haart,  in  the  efforts  making  to  evangelize  them. 
As  an  aid  to  the  minister  in  the  monthly  concert  of  prayer  for  Foreign 
Missions,  the  work  will  be  found  very  valuable.  At  the  same  time 
it  is  well  adapted  for  the  Sunday  School  Library;  and  indeed  must  be 
iftteresting  to  every  intelligent  reader,  who  desires  information  about  A 
country  containing  four  hundred  millions  of  inhabitants — one-third  of 
tJie  human  family. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL   BE  ASSESSED   FOR   FAILURE  TO   RETURN 
THIS    BOOK   ON   THE   DATE   DUE.   THE   PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  50  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY    AND    TO     $1.00     ON     THE    SEVENTH     DAY 
OVERDUE. 

«IUN  21   1934 

JUN   22  1934 

i 

1 

LD  21-100m-7,'33 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBRARY 


